Stifel Financial Corp Acquires 1,286 Shares of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPOK)

Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPOK) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,791 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Spok were worth $302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPOK. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Spok by 273.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,078 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 17,637 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Spok by 2,263.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 198,419 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $2,988,000 after acquiring an additional 190,024 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Spok by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,221 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $806,000 after acquiring an additional 12,471 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in Spok during the 4th quarter worth approximately $801,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Spok by 67.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 110,997 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 44,896 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spok from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. B. Riley raised shares of Spok to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Spok news, COO Michael W. Wallace sold 6,000 shares of Spok stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.53, for a total transaction of $99,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 61,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,011,222.75. The trade was a 8.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Vincent D. Kelly sold 30,000 shares of Spok stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $492,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,588,198.80. The trade was a 15.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 10.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Spok Price Performance

Shares of SPOK opened at $16.31 on Thursday. Spok Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.55 and a 1 year high of $17.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.11. The firm has a market cap of $335.53 million, a P/E ratio of 22.34 and a beta of 0.51.

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.07. Spok had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $36.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.00 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spok Holdings, Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Spok Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.3125 per share. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Spok’s payout ratio is 160.26%.

Spok 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.