StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) COO Jose Fernandez Sells 100,000 Shares

Key Points

• StepStone Group COO Jose Fernandez sold 100,000 shares on June 1 at an average price of $48.60, totaling about $4.86 million. The sale, made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reduced his direct ownership by nearly 49.4%.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $0.57 versus the $0.51 consensus and revenue of $305.84 million versus estimates of $292.11 million. Revenue rose 3.4% year over year, and analysts still expect full-year EPS of 2.57.
• StepStone also announced a $100 million share repurchase program and a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, payable June 30. Analysts currently rate the stock a moderate buy, with an average target price of $71.88.

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) COO Jose Fernandez sold 100,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total transaction of $4,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 102,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,294. This trade represents a 49.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP stock traded down $2.44 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.63. 2,730,756 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,046,281. The company has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.42 and a beta of 1.29. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.58 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $51.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $305.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $292.11 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 26.88% and a positive return on equity of 37.69%. StepStone Group's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 9th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -16.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $54.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $71.88.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,723,073 shares of the company's stock valued at $373,774,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257,880 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the third quarter valued at about $50,859,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,449,878 shares of the company's stock valued at $542,229,000 after buying an additional 728,410 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,102,666 shares of the company's stock valued at $327,439,000 after purchasing an additional 724,201 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 320.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 749,841 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,972,000 after purchasing an additional 571,643 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm that provides specialized investment solutions across private equity, private credit and real assets. The firm offers customized portfolios, secondary interests, direct co-investments and tailored advisory services to institutional investors worldwide. StepStone's integrated research and data analytics platform supports its investment teams in sourcing opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies.

Founded in 2007 as an independent private markets specialist, the company has grown its presence through both organic expansion and strategic partnerships.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.