Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Spok in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Spok Price Performance

Shares of SPOK stock opened at $15.69 on Friday. Spok has a fifty-two week low of $13.55 and a fifty-two week high of $19.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $17.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.88. The firm has a market cap of $323.06 million, a P/E ratio of 18.90 and a beta of 0.49.

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $35.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.00 million. Spok had a return on equity of 11.11% and a net margin of 12.12%. Spok has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Spok will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Spok Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a $0.3125 dividend. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. Spok’s payout ratio is 150.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Michael W. Wallace sold 10,806 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total value of $193,103.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 40,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $721,394.03. The trade was a 21.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Vincent D. Kelly sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.69, for a total transaction of $442,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,818,832.73. This represents a 19.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spok

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SPOK. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spok in the second quarter worth $197,634,000. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Spok during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,175,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Spok by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 521,571 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $8,575,000 after purchasing an additional 130,478 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Spok in the 1st quarter valued at $1,337,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Spok by 8,427.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 66,261 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 65,484 shares during the last quarter. 50.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spok Company Profile

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.