StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Board Declares Share Buyback Plan

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 9th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STEP traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $45.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,528,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,862,486. The stock has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.52 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.80. StepStone Group has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $77.79.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $241.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.92 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 31.44% and a negative net margin of 30.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is -16.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on StepStone Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore set a $73.00 target price on StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 74,214 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.14, for a total value of $4,908,513.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 122,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,082,903.26. The trade was a 37.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $725,200.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 212,052 shares of company stock worth $14,096,290. Insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

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.