Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $956,000 Investment 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. acquired a new position in shares of Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,015 shares of the health services provider's stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Maximus by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,782,150 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $207,687,000 after purchasing an additional 55,583 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Maximus by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,406,592 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $105,001,000 after purchasing an additional 177,075 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Maximus by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,275,394 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $86,969,000 after purchasing an additional 18,976 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Maximus by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,234,933 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $92,188,000 after buying an additional 84,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Maximus by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,186,150 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $88,546,000 after buying an additional 22,711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gayathri Rajan sold 7,913 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.38, for a total transaction of $572,742.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 14,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,028,157.90. This trade represents a 35.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Maximus Price Performance

Maximus stock traded up $2.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $80.88. The company had a trading volume of 338,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 560,008. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.48. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.60. Maximus, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.77 and a fifty-two week high of $93.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Maximus (NYSE:MMS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The health services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.77. Maximus had a return on equity of 23.37% and a net margin of 5.56%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. Maximus's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Maximus, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Maximus Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Maximus's payout ratio is presently 23.86%.

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.