StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share on Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th.

StepStone Group has raised its dividend by an average of 35.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 3 years. StepStone Group has a dividend payout ratio of 41.9% 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP traded up $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $58.81. The company had a trading volume of 34,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 675,141. StepStone Group has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The business's 50-day moving average is $52.04 and its 200 day moving average is $57.80. The company has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.64 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 12.04% and a negative net margin of 11.29%. The firm had revenue of $295.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $231.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. StepStone Group's revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 900 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $54,009.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $6,547,091. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $48,016.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,663 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,441,593.26. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter worth about $209,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in StepStone Group by 72.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,135 shares of the company's stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 3,843 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group by 6.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company's stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,602 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 357,281 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,661,000 after acquiring an additional 63,519 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on STEP. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.64.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.