Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Boosts Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lifted its position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 47.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,539 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,334 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $6,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSI. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Motorola Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 289.5% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 74 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC grew its position in Motorola Solutions by 148.6% in the second quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 87 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Motorola Solutions Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $376.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.79 billion, a PE ratio of 30.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.99. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 1 year low of $359.36 and a 1 year high of $492.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.59, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $388.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.24.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $4.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by $0.21. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 118.48%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.74 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $1.21 per share. This is an increase from Motorola Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSI shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $465.00 price target (down previously from $495.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Monday. Northcoast Research raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $509.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.00.

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.