How to buy MAXIMUS stock | 68.97

MAXIMUS, Inc is a specialty business services business based in the US. MAXIMUS shares (MMS) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. MAXIMUS employs 30,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$3.3 billion.

How to buy shares in MAXIMUS

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for MAXIMUS. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: MMS. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until MAXIMUS reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$68.97, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of MAXIMUS, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of MAXIMUS. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted MAXIMUS's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, MAXIMUS's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$68.97, which is 2.28% down on its pre-crash value of USD$70.58 and 48.58% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$46.42.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of MAXIMUS shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$745.54 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$946.27.

MAXIMUS share price

Use our graph to track the performance of MMS stocks over time.

MAXIMUS shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

Latest market close	USD$68.97
52-week range	USD$46.42 - USD$80.5
50-day moving average	USD$70.644
200-day moving average	USD$70.4889
Wall St. target price	USD$81
PE ratio	20.8
Dividend yield	USD$1.12 (1.68%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$3.302

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Is it a good time to buy MAXIMUS stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of MAXIMUS, Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

MAXIMUS price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $68.97 from 2020-10-16

1 week (2020-10-15)	0.48%
1 month (2020-09-22)	0.52%
3 months (2020-07-22)	-5.46%
6 months (2020-04-22)	7.88%

1 year (2019-10-22)	-9.31%
2 years (2018-10-22)	5.14%
3 years (2017-10-20)	3.93%
5 years (2015-10-22)	6.14%

Is MAXIMUS under- or over-valued?

Valuing MAXIMUS stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of MAXIMUS's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

MAXIMUS's P/E ratio

MAXIMUS's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 21x. In other words, MAXIMUS shares trade at around 21x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

MAXIMUS's PEG ratio

MAXIMUS's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.0716. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into MAXIMUS's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

MAXIMUS's EBITDA

MAXIMUS's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$379.1 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a MAXIMUS's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

MAXIMUS financials

Revenue TTM	USD$3.3 billion
Operating margin TTM	8.66%
Gross profit TTM	USD$671.2 million
Return on assets TTM	9.5%
Return on equity TTM	17.5%
Profit margin	6.41%
Book value	$19.489
Market capitalisation	USD$4.1 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting MAXIMUS shares

There are currently 1.1 million MAXIMUS shares held short by investors – that's known as MAXIMUS's "short interest". This figure is 18.7% down from 1.4 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting MAXIMUS shares can be evaluated.

MAXIMUS's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

MAXIMUS's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of MAXIMUS shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of MAXIMUS shares traded daily (recently around 349664.66876972). MAXIMUS's SIR currently stands at 3.17. In other words for every 100,000 MAXIMUS shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3170 shares are currently held short.

However MAXIMUS's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of MAXIMUS shares, or, against the total number of tradable MAXIMUS shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case MAXIMUS's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 MAXIMUS shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.024% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable MAXIMUS shares, roughly 24 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against MAXIMUS.

Find out more about how you can short MAXIMUS stock.

MAXIMUS share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 33.84% of net profits

Recently MAXIMUS has paid out, on average, around 33.84% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 1.68% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), MAXIMUS shareholders could enjoy a 1.68% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In MAXIMUS's case, that would currently equate to about $1.12 per share.

While MAXIMUS's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that MAXIMUS may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

MAXIMUS's most recent dividend payout was on 30 November 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 12 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have MAXIMUS's shares ever split?

MAXIMUS's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 1 July 2013. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your MAXIMUS shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for MAXIMUS shares which in turn could have impacted MAXIMUS's share price.

MAXIMUS share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, MAXIMUS's shares have ranged in value from as little as $46.42 up to $80.5. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while MAXIMUS's is 0.9266. This would suggest that MAXIMUS's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

MAXIMUS overview

MAXIMUS, Inc. provides business process services (BPS) to government health and human services programs worldwide. It operates through three segments: U.S. Health and Human Services, U.S. Federal Services, and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Health and Human Services segment offers various BPS, appeals, and assessments for state, provincial, and national government programs, including Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program, Affordable Care Act, Health Insurance British Columbia, Health Assessment Advisory Service contract, and Preadmission Screening and Resident Reviews. This segment offers program eligibility support and enrollment; application assistance and independent health plan enrollment counseling; and beneficiary outreach, education, eligibility, enrollment, and renewal. It also provides independent disability, long-term sick, and other health assessment; specialized consulting; and centralized multilingual customer contact centers and multichannel self-service options for enrollment. The U.S. Federal Services segment offers centralized citizen engagement centers and support services; document and record management; case management, citizen support, and consumer education; independent medical reviews and worker's compensation benefit appeals; and Medicare and Medicaid appeals, and program eligibility appeals. It also provides modernization of systems and information technology infrastructure; infrastructure operations and support services; software development, operations, and management services; and data analytics services. The Outside the U.S. segment offers BPS solutions for governments and commercial clients outside the United States, including health and disability assessments, program administration for welfare-to-work services, and other related services. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of MAXIMUS is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 1.632% of MAXIMUS shares are held by insiders and 99.227% by institutions.

• How many people work for MAXIMUS?

  Latest data suggests 30,000 work at MAXIMUS.

• When does the fiscal year end for MAXIMUS?

  MAXIMUS's fiscal year ends in September.

• Where is MAXIMUS based?

  MAXIMUS's address is: 1891 Metro Center Drive, Reston, VA, United States, 20190

• What is MAXIMUS's ISIN number?

  MAXIMUS's international securities identification number is: US5779331041

• What is MAXIMUS's CUSIP number?

  MAXIMUS's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 577933104