Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Sells 55,387 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA trimmed its position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 86.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,450 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 55,387 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $3,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the second quarter worth about $872,307,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $230,743,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,386,519 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,292,310,000 after buying an additional 490,354 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in Motorola Solutions by 116.5% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 841,463 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $384,793,000 after buying an additional 452,822 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Motorola Solutions by 56.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,203,661 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $550,422,000 after buying an additional 435,178 shares during the period. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of MSI stock opened at $452.67 on Friday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $359.36 and a one year high of $492.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $437.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.18. The stock has a market cap of $74.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.96.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $0.24. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.04 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total transaction of $23,404,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 47,167 shares in the company, valued at $22,078,401.03. This trade represents a 51.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total value of $3,297,070.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at $4,488,254.29. The trade was a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $497.14.

About Motorola Solutions

Motorola Solutions, Inc is a provider of mission-critical communications and analytics solutions for public safety and commercial customers. The company designs, manufactures and supports a range of communications equipment and software aimed at enabling first responders, government agencies and enterprises to coordinate and operate reliably in high-pressure environments. Its offerings emphasize secure, resilient connectivity and situational awareness for organizations that require dependable voice, data and video communications.

Product lines include land mobile radio (LMR) systems and handheld and vehicle-mounted radios used by police, fire and emergency medical services; broadband push-to-talk and LTE-based solutions; command-and-control center software for incident management and records; and video security and analytics systems.