StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $63.96, but opened at $67.60. StepStone Group shares last traded at $65.07, with a volume of 123,282 shares trading hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is presently -56.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STEP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $69.21.

StepStone Group Stock Down 2.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.65 and a beta of 1.31. The stock's fifty day moving average is $61.27 and its 200-day moving average is $58.82.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at $44,108,653. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company's stock worth $227,310,000 after purchasing an additional 141,637 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company's stock worth $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 265,240 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company's stock worth $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 11.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 805,195 shares of the company's stock worth $48,279,000 after purchasing an additional 85,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth $46,163,000. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.