11,697 Shares in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Purchased by Entropy Technologies LP

Key Points

• Entropy Technologies LP acquired 11,697 shares of StepStone Group Inc. for approximately $611,000 in the first quarter, signaling increased institutional investment in the company.
• StepStone Group announced a dividend increase to $0.28 per share, up from $0.24, indicating a 1.8% yield and a positive outlook for shareholders.
• The company's latest earnings report showed a 95.4% year-over-year revenue growth, though it missed earnings per share estimates by $0.02, reporting $0.40 instead of the expected $0.42.

Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of STEP. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 77.4% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company's stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 6,289 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 42.8% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,527 shares of the company's stock worth $1,229,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 24,558 shares of the company's stock worth $1,283,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $558,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP traded down $0.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $61.46. The stock had a trading volume of 770,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 615,193. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.23. The stock has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of -19.95 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.07 and a 1-year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%. The company had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -31.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STEP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,663,481.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,804,800. This represents a 25.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 424,444 shares of company stock worth $25,268,076 in the last ninety days. 16.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.