Fred Alger Management LLC Has $81.27 Million Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Fred Alger Management LLC reduced its stake in StepStone Group by 3.9%, selling 63,425 shares and retaining about 1.34% of the company, valued at $81.27 million.
• Multiple large investors increased their positions in StepStone Group during the first quarter, with Vanguard Group Inc. and Price T Rowe Associates Inc. seeing notable increases in their shareholdings.
• StepStone Group announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.28 per share, marking a rise from the previous $0.24, with a yield of 1.8% based on the annualized payout.

Fred Alger Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,555,936 shares of the company's stock after selling 63,425 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC owned approximately 1.34% of StepStone Group worth $81,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 22,017 shares of the company's stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 4,020 shares of the company's stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 18,808 shares of the company's stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $1,893,360. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on STEP shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of 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 boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.00.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP traded down $1.53 on Friday, reaching $61.94. The company had a trading volume of 494,923 shares, 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 stock has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.11 and a beta of 1.37. The company's fifty day moving average is $60.49 and its 200 day moving average is $56.07.

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

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -36.36%.

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.