Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $497.1429.

MSI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $499.00 price objective (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Motorola Solutions from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays upped their price target on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th.

Key Headlines Impacting Motorola Solutions

Here are the key news stories impacting Motorola Solutions this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly dividend announced: Motorola declared a $1.21 quarterly dividend (record March 20; pay April 15), implying a ~1.0% yield. Small recurring cash return and signal of capital-return policy stability.
• Negative Sentiment: Large CEO insider selling — Gregory Q. Brown: recent SEC filings show multiple sizable sales, including 50,000 shares (~$23.4M, Feb. 24) and additional blocks on Feb. 25–26 (see filings). These trades reduced his holdings materially and may weigh on sentiment given the scale. CEO 50,000-share sale filing CEO additional sale filing CEO sales filing
• Negative Sentiment: Other insider sales: CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares (~$3.3M) and director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares (~$204k) in late-February filings — further insider supply hitting the market. Cynthia Yazdi filing Kenneth Denman filing
• Negative Sentiment: Press coverage flagged the CEO’s sales (summary article). Media attention on large insider disposal can amplify negative investor reaction even if sales are for diversification or liquidity. Insider selling article

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at $4,488,254.29. This represents a 42.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total transaction of $204,032.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,362,768.36. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,634 shares of company stock worth $47,189,456. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arwa LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,274,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in Motorola Solutions by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 433,839 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,299,000 after acquiring an additional 5,107 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $810,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Motorola Solutions by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 32,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $12,392,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Phillip James Consulting Co. acquired a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Motorola Solutions Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:MSI opened at $481.37 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $411.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.00. Motorola Solutions has a 1-year low of $359.36 and a 1-year high of $492.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47.

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

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $1.21 per share. 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 1.0%. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

Motorola Solutions Company Profile

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.