StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Raises Dividend to $0.28 Per Share

Key Points

• StepStone Group Inc. announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.28 per share, representing a 16.7% increase from the previous dividend of $0.24, with an expected yield of 1.9%.
• The company has a dividend payout ratio of 41.2%, and analysts project earnings of $2.04 per share next year, indicating it can maintain the annual dividend of $0.96.
• Despite a missed earnings estimate of $0.42 EPS, StepStone Group reported a revenue increase of 95.4% year-over-year, totaling $237.47 million for the quarter.

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.28 per share on Monday, September 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This is a 16.7% increase from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

StepStone Group has a dividend payout ratio of 41.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect StepStone Group to earn $2.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

StepStone Group Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ STEP traded up $1.52 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.05. 34,139 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 606,817. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a PE ratio of -19.48 and a beta of 1.37. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $57.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.15.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%. The firm had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.99 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,663,481.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 80,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,804,800. The trade was a 25.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 426,144 shares of company stock valued at $25,370,101 in the last three months. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 269.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,599,875 shares of the company's stock worth $324,122,000 after purchasing an additional 895,521 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,163,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 353.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 661,799 shares of the company's stock worth $38,305,000 after purchasing an additional 515,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company's stock worth $387,524,000 after purchasing an additional 481,385 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.