Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 7,053 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 42.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,527 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 3.5% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 177,208 shares of the company's stock worth $9,256,000 after acquiring an additional 6,014 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 7,134.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 61,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,189,000 after purchasing an additional 60,213 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 60.6% in the 1st quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 24,003 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,254,000 after purchasing an additional 9,059 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 60,445 shares of the company's stock worth $3,499,000 after buying an additional 5,502 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $48,016.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total transaction of $1,663,481.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,804,800. This represents a 25.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 338,426 shares of company stock valued at $20,325,626 in the last 90 days. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STEP. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on StepStone Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.57.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

StepStone Group stock traded down $2.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 607,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 680,906. StepStone Group LP has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $53.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.18. The company has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.87 and a beta of 1.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 12.04%. The company's quarterly 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, sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group LP will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date 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 -40.17%.

StepStone Group Company 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.