EP Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,042 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSI. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 29.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 723,835 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $325,455,000 after purchasing an additional 165,353 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 219,717 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,791,000 after buying an additional 10,096 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 4th quarter worth $320,000. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Motorola Solutions by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 36,236 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,749,000 after buying an additional 2,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City State Bank bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSI. StockNews.com cut Motorola Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $570.00 to $515.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $527.00 to $511.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.25.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Motorola Solutions stock opened at $405.86 on Friday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $356.30 and a 52-week high of $507.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $421.25 and its 200 day moving average is $451.71. The company has a market cap of $67.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.02, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.98.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The communications equipment provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 14.58% and a return on equity of 197.59%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.09 per share. This represents a $4.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.39%.

Motorola Solutions Company Profile

Motorola Solutions, Inc provides public safety and enterprise security solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Systems Integration, and Software and Services. The Products and Systems Integration segment offers a portfolio of infrastructure, devices, accessories, and video security devices and infrastructure, as well as the implementation and integration of systems, devices, software, and applications for government, public safety, and commercial customers who operate private communications networks and video security solutions, as well as manage a mobile workforce.