Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) Lowered to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

Separately, B. Riley raised shares of Spok from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Spok Trading Down 0.2 %

Spok stock opened at $16.58 on Monday. Spok has a 1-year low of $13.24 and a 1-year high of $17.96. The firm has a market cap of $338.55 million, a P/E ratio of 22.71 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.39 and a 200-day moving average of $15.99.

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.02). Spok had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 10.66%. The business had revenue of $33.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.50 million. Research analysts forecast that Spok will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spok Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.3125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.54%. Spok’s payout ratio is 168.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Spok by 4.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 673,268 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $10,141,000 after purchasing an additional 27,048 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Spok by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 514,427 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $8,258,000 after buying an additional 6,591 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Spok by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 415,876 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $6,263,000 after buying an additional 12,467 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Spok by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 213,575 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $3,428,000 after buying an additional 15,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Spok by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 207,068 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $3,323,000 after buying an additional 8,175 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.81% of the company’s stock.

About Spok

Spok Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiary, Spok, Inc, provides healthcare communication solutions in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. The company's products and services enhance workflows for clinicians and support administrative compliance. It delivers clinical information to care teams when and where it matters to enhance patient outcomes; and provides GenA Pager, a one-way alphanumeric pager.