StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Reaches New 52-Week High at $51.16

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $51.16 and last traded at $51.01, with a volume of 22693 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $50.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STEP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on StepStone Group from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.38.

StepStone Group Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $46.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.24 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $186.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.15 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that StepStone Group LP will post 1.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In related news, Director David F. Hoffmeister acquired 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $44.29 per share, for a total transaction of $996,525.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 45,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,030,829.37. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total transaction of $1,219,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,110.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David F. Hoffmeister acquired 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $44.29 per share, for a total transaction of $996,525.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 45,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,030,829.37. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the second quarter worth $111,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $149,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the second quarter valued at about $206,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the second quarter worth about $266,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the second quarter worth about $303,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group LP. 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, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.