Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI Shares Sold by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 40.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 46,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 30,850 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $21,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. United Community Bank lifted its position in Motorola Solutions by 81.3% in 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 period. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Field & Main Bank bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

MSI stock opened at $457.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $422.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $422.62. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $359.36 and a 12 month high of $492.22.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business 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%. Motorola Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a $1.21 dividend. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total value of $13,590,508.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 90,721 shares in the company, valued at $43,360,101.95. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $499.00 price target (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions 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.