Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Increases Stock Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 97.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,973 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,375 shares during the quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $7,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSI. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. United Community Bank lifted its stake in Motorola Solutions by 81.3% during the third quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth $33,000. Field & Main Bank acquired a new position in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $461.11 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $420.96 and a 200-day moving average of $423.19. The firm has a market cap of $76.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.96. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a twelve month low of $359.36 and a twelve month high of $492.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.87 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 business had revenue of $3.38 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $1.21 per share. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 37.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays upped their target price on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research raised Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Argus raised shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Motorola Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $497.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total transaction of $13,590,508.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 90,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,360,101.95. The trade was a 23.86% 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, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the sale, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. Insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

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.