Bank of New York Mellon Corp Takes Position in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 525,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,752,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.44% of StepStone Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 65.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,723,073 shares of the company's stock valued at $373,774,000 after buying an additional 2,257,880 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,449,878 shares of the company's stock worth $542,229,000 after purchasing an additional 728,410 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,102,666 shares of the company's stock worth $327,439,000 after purchasing an additional 724,201 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 320.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 749,841 shares of the company's stock worth $48,972,000 after purchasing an additional 571,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,456,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $285,951,000 after purchasing an additional 561,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, insider Michael I. Mccabe acquired 120,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $41.85 per share, with a total value of $5,022,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 433,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,128,499.30. This represents a 38.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 2,290 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $97,645.60. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 15.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STEP. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wall Street Zen cut StepStone Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on StepStone Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, August 7th. Seven investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.25.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $50.32 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $45.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.08. StepStone Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $77.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.52 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 43.38% and a negative net margin of 30.53%.The company had revenue of $300.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.32 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.51%.

StepStone Group 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.

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