StepStone Group Inc. $STEP Stock Holdings Cut by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its stake in StepStone Group Inc. by 17.4% in the first quarter, selling 308,810 shares and holding approximately 1.26% of the company worth $76.3 million.
• Insiders have also reduced their positions, with CEO Scott W. Hart selling 10,000 shares and insider Michael I. McCabe selling 67,718 shares, indicating a trend of decreased ownership among company executives.
• The company has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share, marking an increase from the previous $0.24, with upcoming payments set for September 15th.

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its holdings in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 17.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,461,513 shares of the company's stock after selling 308,810 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 1.26% of StepStone Group worth $76,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 77.4% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company's stock worth $753,000 after acquiring an additional 6,289 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in StepStone Group by 38.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 42.8% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in StepStone Group by 2.7% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 24,558 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $558,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Trading Down 2.4%

StepStone Group stock traded down $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $61.94. 494,923 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 506,779. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38. The firm has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.11 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.09.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. Analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -36.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STEP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 price target (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,893,360. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

About StepStone Group

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.