Hilltop Holdings Inc. Purchases 2,520 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,982 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,520 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $5,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Motorola Solutions in the 2nd quarter worth $872,307,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions during the second quarter valued at about $230,743,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.5% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,386,519 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,292,310,000 after purchasing an additional 490,354 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 116.5% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 841,463 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $384,793,000 after purchasing an additional 452,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 56.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,203,661 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $550,422,000 after purchasing an additional 435,178 shares during the period. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $473.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $429.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $422.77. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $359.36 and a fifty-two week high of $492.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In other news, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. The trade was a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total value of $23,404,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,167 shares in the company, valued at $22,078,401.03. The trade was a 51.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Argus raised Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $497.14.

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.