Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 6,500 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 44.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,228 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $388,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $355,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at $941,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth about $331,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in StepStone Group by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 438,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,359,000 after acquiring an additional 20,285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $53.86 on Friday. StepStone Group LP has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The business's fifty day moving average price is $53.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.87 and a beta of 1.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 12.04%. The business had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that StepStone Group LP will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is presently -40.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STEP has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $54,009.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,547,091. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 338,426 shares of company stock valued at $20,325,626. 18.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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