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

Key Points

• StepStone Group CEO Scott Hart sold 10,000 shares of stock at an average price of $64.70, totaling $647,000, resulting in a 20% reduction of his holdings.
• The company recently declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, up from $0.24, demonstrating a positive change in its payout policy.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed opinions on StepStone Group, with some upgrading their ratings and target prices, indicating a cautious optimism surrounding the stock's future performance.

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) CEO Scott Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $647,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,588,000. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

StepStone Group Stock Up 0.2%

STEP traded up $0.15 during trading on Monday, reaching $65.61. The company had a trading volume of 80,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 622,812. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.76. The stock has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.31 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The business's revenue was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -36.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised StepStone Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Zacks Research downgraded StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 target price (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Millennium Management LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,161,548 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $387,524,000 after buying an additional 481,385 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $209,495,000 after buying an additional 468,745 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company's stock worth $315,400,000 after purchasing an additional 438,790 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter worth $17,018,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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