Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a drop of 27.0% from the January 15th total of 2,260,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 921,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michelle F. Link sold 2,208 shares of Maximus stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.83, for a total value of $163,016.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $484,841.61. The trade was a 25.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Raymond B. Ruddy purchased 3,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $71.46 per share, with a total value of $249,395.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 112,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,040,679.20. This represents a 3.20 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 7,063 shares of company stock worth $502,017 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Maximus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Maximus by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,548,284 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $488,829,000 after buying an additional 205,564 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Maximus by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,525,159 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $142,109,000 after buying an additional 21,532 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Maximus by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,406,592 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $105,001,000 after buying an additional 177,075 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Maximus by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,256,418 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $93,792,000 after buying an additional 98,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Maximus by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,000,664 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $74,700,000 after buying an additional 71,598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MMS shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Maximus from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Maximus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday.

Maximus Price Performance

NYSE:MMS traded up $0.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $67.76. The stock had a trading volume of 60,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 703,359. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.49. Maximus has a 12 month low of $66.52 and a 12 month high of $93.97.

Maximus (NYSE:MMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The health services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.22. Maximus had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 21.95%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Maximus will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Maximus Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Maximus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.81%.

About Maximus

Maximus, Inc operates as a provider of government services in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Federal Services, U.S. Services, and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Services segment offers program eligibility support and enrollment; centralized multilingual customer contact centers, multichannel, and digital self-service options for enrollment; application assistance and independent health plan choice counseling; beneficiary outreach, education, eligibility, enrollment, and redeterminations; and person-centered independent disability, long-term sick, and other health assessments.