StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Trading Up 6.9% – What’s Next?

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) rose 6.9% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $46.50 and last traded at $46.4220. 193,770 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 1,251,318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STEP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group began coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of StepStone Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.12.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.07. The stock has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of -6.37 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 37.69% and a negative net margin of 26.88%.The firm had revenue of $305.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -16.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 2,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $97,645.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe acquired 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.85 per share, for a total transaction of $5,022,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 433,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,128,499.30. This represents a 38.32% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 16.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings 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 worth $373,774,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257,880 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,449,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,229,000 after purchasing an additional 728,410 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in StepStone Group by 16.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in StepStone Group by 320.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 749,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,972,000 after purchasing an additional 571,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,456,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,951,000 after purchasing an additional 561,176 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.