Short Interest in Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) Declines By 22.2%

Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) saw a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,790,000 shares, a decrease of 22.2% from the February 13th total of 2,300,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 766,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insider Activity at Maximus

In related news, insider Ilene R. Baylinson sold 14,500 shares of the company’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 transaction of $988,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $171,167.68. This represents a 85.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Maximus

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 111 Capital bought a new position in shares of Maximus in the 4th quarter worth $361,000. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Maximus in the 4th quarter worth $222,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Maximus in the 4th quarter worth $259,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Maximus by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,782,150 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $207,687,000 after buying an additional 55,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Maximus in the 4th quarter worth $252,000. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MMS shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Maximus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Raymond James raised shares of Maximus from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Maximus Price Performance

Maximus stock traded up $0.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $68.67. 433,824 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 481,975. The company’s fifty day moving average is $71.66 and its 200-day moving average is $78.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 0.71. Maximus has a 52 week low of $63.77 and a 52 week high of $93.97.

Maximus (NYSE:MMS) last posted its earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Maximus will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Maximus Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Maximus’s payout ratio is 25.81%.

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.