StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $46.07, but opened at $42.64. StepStone Group shares last traded at $42.81, with a volume of 474,484 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on STEP. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.88.

StepStone Group Trading Down 8.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.21 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $51.28 and its 200 day moving average is $57.65.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $305.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.11 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 37.69% and a negative net margin of 26.88%.StepStone Group’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. On average, analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is -16.47%.

StepStone Group announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 9th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in StepStone Group by 9.4% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,227,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,635,000 after buying an additional 504,680 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 16.5% during 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. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 561,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in StepStone Group by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,138,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,317,000 after purchasing an additional 95,339 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.