Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Sells 12,609 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 65.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,646 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 12,609 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $2,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 3.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,531,492 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,008,362,000 after acquiring an additional 119,907 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,337,453 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $978,808,000 after purchasing an additional 60,733 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,350,325 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $639,853,000 after purchasing an additional 37,718 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,155,597 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $674,896,000 after purchasing an additional 96,421 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,006,858 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $546,347,000 after purchasing an additional 8,514 shares during the period. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MSI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Motorola Solutions in a research note on Friday, January 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Motorola Solutions in a research note on Monday, March 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Motorola Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $348.38.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

NYSE:MSI opened at $339.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.37, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $339.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $319.84. The company has a market cap of $56.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.90. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $269.64 and a 52-week high of $355.39.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 441.65% and a net margin of 17.12%. Motorola Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 11.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Motorola Solutions news, SVP Cynthia Yazdi sold 4,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.30, for a total transaction of $1,585,919.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,961,229.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions 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.