StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• StepStone Group Inc. has received an average rating of "Hold" from analysts, with five hold recommendations and three buy recommendations, and an average price target of $64.00.
• Insider selling includes significant transactions by CEO Scott W. Hart and another insider, indicating a total of 87,718 shares sold worth approximately $5 million over the last 90 days.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.24 to $0.28 per share, translating to an annual yield of 1.8% for investors of record.

Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.00.

A number of analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP traded down $0.81 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $62.06. The company had a trading volume of 449,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 672,832. The company has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a PE ratio of -20.15 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.33 and a 200-day moving average of $56.03. StepStone Group has a 1-year low of $40.07 and a 1-year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is -31.17%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $614,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total transaction of $3,828,775.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 423,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,965,270.56. This trade represents a 13.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,718 shares of company stock worth $5,658,876. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 481,385 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in 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 valued at $315,400,000 after buying an additional 438,790 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in StepStone Group by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,043,640 shares of the company's stock valued at $224,422,000 after buying an additional 32,625 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,580,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,992,000 after purchasing an additional 94,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 269.8% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

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.