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

Key Points

• StepStone Group Inc. has received an average rating of "Hold" from nine research firms, with one sell and three buy recommendations.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.24 to $0.28, marking an annualized yield of 1.7%.
• Recently, CEO Scott W. Hart and CFO David Y. Park sold shares of the company, reducing their ownership by 20% and 4.34%, respectively.

Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.5714.

Several research analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. Barclays set a $70.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $65.32 on Thursday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $62.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.67. The firm has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.21 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The firm had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The company's revenue was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $647,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,588,000. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,392,985.20. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,937,460. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

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

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