StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Plans $0.45 Variable Dividend

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP – Get Rating) declared a Variable dividend on Wednesday, May 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share on Friday, June 30th. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th.

StepStone Group has a payout ratio of 41.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect StepStone Group to earn $1.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.4%.

StepStone Group Stock Down 3.4 %

STEP opened at $21.14 on Friday. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $19.83 and a 52-week high of $32.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.35. The company has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.19 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 24th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $152.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STEP has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on StepStone Group from $26.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday. TheStreet lowered StepStone Group from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on StepStone Group from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David Y. Park sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.52, for a total transaction of $68,448.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $908,761.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 20.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American International Group Inc. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 25,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 67.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Credit Suisse AG increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 38,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.82% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

(Get Rating)

StepStone Group Inc is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.