Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Position in Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Maximus, Inc. during the first quarter, purchasing 14,015 shares valued at approximately $956,000.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.01, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.64, along with a revenue increase of 1% year-over-year.
• Maximus recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.6%, set to be paid on August 31st.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 14,015 shares of the health services provider's stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MMS. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Maximus by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,833 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its position in Maximus by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 9,877 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Maximus by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,519 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Maximus by 70.2% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 606 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Maximus by 0.7% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,936 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $2,723,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Maximus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th.

Maximus Stock Performance

Shares of MMS traded down $1.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $74.81. The stock had a trading volume of 772,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 558,041. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.46. Maximus, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.77 and a fifty-two week high of $93.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87 and a beta of 0.60.

Maximus (NYSE:MMS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The health services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.29 billion. Maximus had a net margin of 5.56% and a return on equity of 23.37%. The business's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Maximus, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Maximus Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Maximus's dividend payout ratio is 23.86%.

Insider Activity at Maximus

In other news, Director Gayathri Rajan sold 7,913 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.38, for a total value of $572,742.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 14,205 shares in the company, valued at $1,028,157.90. This represents a 35.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Maximus Company 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.