StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Declares $0.24 Quarterly Dividend
(NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share on Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th.
StepStone Group has raised its dividend by an average of 35.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive 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%.
Shares of STEP traded up $1.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $58.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,203,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 677,050. The business has a fifty day moving average of $51.90 and a 200-day moving average of $57.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.75 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group has a 12 month low of $37.40 and a 12 month high of $70.38.
StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $295.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 12.04%. The business's revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.
In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total transaction of $48,016.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 90,663 shares in the company, valued at $5,441,593.26. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $54,009.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,547,091. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the first quarter worth about $209,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 357,281 shares of the company's stock worth $18,661,000 after acquiring an additional 63,519 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position 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 during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 6.5% in the 1st 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 72.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 3,843 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.
A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price objective on StepStone Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.64.
View Our Latest Analysis on 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.
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