Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday.

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

Spok Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SPOK opened at $15.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.42 million, a PE ratio of 21.63 and a beta of 0.29. Spok has a 1 year low of $13.24 and a 1 year high of $17.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.87.

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $33.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.50 million. Spok had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 10.66%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Spok will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spok Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.3125 dividend. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Spok’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 168.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPOK. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Spok during the fourth quarter worth about $196,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Spok by 37.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 52,929 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $850,000 after buying an additional 14,552 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Spok by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,868 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Spok during the fourth quarter worth about $1,253,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Spok by 83.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,075 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 9,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.