BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires New Stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,636 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 444.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 969 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ STEP traded up $0.58 on Tuesday, reaching $59.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,123,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 679,502. StepStone Group LP has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The stock's 50 day moving average is $52.04 and its 200-day moving average is $57.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.09 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 12.04% and a negative net margin of 11.29%. StepStone Group's revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that StepStone Group LP will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -40.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $54,009.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $6,547,091. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 800 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $48,016.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 90,663 shares in the company, valued at $5,441,593.26. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.64.

StepStone Group 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.