Covestor Ltd Buys 527 Shares of Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS)

Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) by 42.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,773 shares of the health services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Maximus were worth $132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MMS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Maximus by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,548,284 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $488,829,000 after purchasing an additional 205,564 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Maximus by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,525,159 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $142,109,000 after buying an additional 21,532 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Maximus by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,256,418 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $93,792,000 after acquiring an additional 98,264 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Maximus by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,000,664 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $74,700,000 after acquiring an additional 71,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Maximus in the fourth quarter valued at $71,443,000. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jan Madsen sold 2,439 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.71, for a total transaction of $165,144.69. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,225,347.87. This trade represents a 11.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ilene R. Baylinson sold 14,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total value of $988,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $171,167.68. The trade was a 85.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MMS. Raymond James upgraded shares of Maximus from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Maximus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Maximus Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MMS opened at $68.41 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.15. The company has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.71 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Maximus, Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.77 and a twelve month high of $93.97.

Maximus (NYSE:MMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The health services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Maximus, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Maximus Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Maximus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.81%.

Maximus Profile

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.