Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Maximus, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,563 shares of the health services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Maximus were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Maximus by 346.3% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 118,290 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $9,920,000 after purchasing an additional 91,788 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Maximus by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,880 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 3,444 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Maximus during the 4th quarter worth $1,434,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Maximus by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 28,046 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after buying an additional 853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambiar Investors LLC increased its position in Maximus by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 137,964 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $11,570,000 after buying an additional 1,977 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Maximus

In related news, CFO David Mutryn sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,159.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MMS shares. Raymond James lowered Maximus from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Maximus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th.

Maximus Price Performance

NYSE MMS opened at $81.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $82.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.26. Maximus, Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.39 and a 1 year high of $89.69.

Maximus (NYSE:MMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Maximus, Inc. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Maximus Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Maximus’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.74%.

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.