StockNews.com Lowers Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Spok Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of SPOK stock opened at $15.14 on Friday. Spok has a 12 month low of $12.76 and a 12 month high of $18.14. The stock has a market cap of $306.74 million, a P/E ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.77.

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Spok had a net margin of 11.19% and a return on equity of 9.56%. The firm had revenue of $34.91 million during the quarter.

Spok Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.313 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.27%. Spok’s payout ratio is currently 150.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Spok news, Director Barbara Peterson Byrne sold 5,955 shares of Spok stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.18, for a total transaction of $90,396.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,580.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spok

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SPOK. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Spok by 439.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,913 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 4,003 shares during the period. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Spok in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $112,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Spok in the 4th quarter worth approximately $126,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Spok by 82.8% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,577 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 3,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Spok during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $167,000. 50.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.