Insider Selling: StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) CEO Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• StepStone Group Inc. CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of stock for approximately $612,800, representing a 14.29% decrease in his ownership.
• The company reported $0.68 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.44, contributing to a revenue increase of 66.8% year-over-year.
• StepStone Group declared a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.55%, and a negative payout ratio of -40.17%.

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.28, for a total transaction of $612,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 60,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,676,800. The trade was a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP traded up $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $61.88. The stock had a trading volume of 302,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 541,261. The firm has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a PE ratio of 29.81 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.38. StepStone Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 15.21% and a negative net margin of 15.28%. The business had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $231.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. StepStone Group's revenue for the quarter was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is currently -40.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $387,524,000 after purchasing an additional 481,385 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 7.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company's stock worth $315,400,000 after buying an additional 438,790 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company's stock worth $209,495,000 after buying an additional 468,745 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 2.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,580,157 shares of the company's stock worth $186,992,000 after buying an additional 94,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 269.8% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company's stock worth $154,748,000 after buying an additional 2,161,548 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.43.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group Inc is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in private debt, venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.

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