Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPOK) Announces $0.31 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Spok Holdings, Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share, with an annualized yield of 6.8%, payable on September 9th to investors recorded by August 19th.
• The company has a high dividend payout ratio of 158.2%, indicating it is relying on its balance sheet to sustain dividend payments due to weak earnings performance.
• Spok's stock saw a 7.7% increase in value, trading at $18.34, following its earnings report where it beat analysts' expectations by posting an EPS of $0.22.

Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPOK - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.3125 per share by the Wireless communications provider on Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th.

Spok has a payout ratio of 158.2% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Spok to earn $0.79 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.25 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 158.2%.

Spok Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:SPOK traded up $0.15 during trading on Monday, hitting $18.66. 76,532 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 124,215. Spok has a 1-year low of $13.55 and a 1-year high of $19.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.46. The firm has a market cap of $383.88 million, a P/E ratio of 22.56 and a beta of 0.57.

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.04. Spok had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $35.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $35.00 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Spok will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on SPOK. B. Riley raised shares of Spok to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spok from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 10th.

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.