Scott Hart Sells 10,000 Shares of StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) CEO Scott Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total transaction of $617,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,234,000. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ STEP traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $62.62. 820,110 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 623,297. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $68.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.83 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $63.29 and a 200-day moving average of $60.45.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 21.53% and a negative net margin of 40.06%.The business had revenue of $282.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on STEP. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on StepStone Group in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,721,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,289,000 after purchasing an additional 296,378 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 65.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,723,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,774,000 after buying an additional 2,257,880 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 2.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,138,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,317,000 after buying an additional 95,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 269.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

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.