Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.43 Million in Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,100 shares of the health services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,434,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Maximus by 61.4% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 381 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Maximus during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. bought a new position in Maximus in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Maximus in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Maximus by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,303 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company's stock.

Maximus Price Performance

NYSE MMS traded up $1.40 on Friday, reaching $81.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 277,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,132. Maximus, Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.39 and a twelve month high of $89.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97 and a beta of 0.72. The firm's 50 day moving average is $82.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.21.

Maximus (NYSE:MMS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The health services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.06. Maximus had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Maximus's revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Maximus, Inc. will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Maximus Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Maximus's payout ratio is 39.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Maximus

In other Maximus news, CFO David Mutryn sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.95, for a total transaction of $671,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,124 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,159.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MMS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Maximus from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Maximus from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th.

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.