StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) CEO Sells $617,000.00 in Stock

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) CEO Scott Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total value of $617,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,234,000. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP opened at $63.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of -7.90 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $63.25 and its 200 day moving average is $60.51. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $68.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 40.06% and a positive return on equity of 21.53%. The business had revenue of $282.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. StepStone Group’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its stake in StepStone Group by 2,285.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 155.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 127.8% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 916 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STEP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.29.

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.