Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $504.88.

MSI has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Motorola Solutions from $440.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $430.00 to $495.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $425.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $467.00 to $529.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Motorola Solutions by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,454,643 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,358,848,000 after purchasing an additional 198,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,736,045 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,675,588,000 after buying an additional 89,320 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,530,660 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $590,911,000 after buying an additional 110,072 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 59,189.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 967,604 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $435,064,000 after acquiring an additional 965,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 942,529 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $363,863,000 after acquiring an additional 33,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of MSI stock opened at $469.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $78.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.99. Motorola Solutions has a 52 week low of $307.09 and a 52 week high of $507.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $479.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $436.52.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.36. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 251.96%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions will post 12.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.09 dividend. This represents a $4.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. This is an increase from Motorola Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.75%.

About Motorola Solutions

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.