Intech Investment Management LLC Boosts Position in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group Inc. by 41.5%, acquiring an additional 11,270 shares, bringing their total holdings to 38,456 shares worth approximately $2,009,000.
• StepStone Group recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, up from the previous $0.24, reflecting a positive change in their dividend policy.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on StepStone Group, with three maintaining a "Buy" rating while five have given a "Hold" rating, leading to an average target price of $64.00.

Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 41.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,456 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,270 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC's holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $558,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 56.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 55,937 shares of the company's stock worth $3,238,000 after acquiring an additional 20,108 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,998 shares of the company's stock worth $1,737,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,364 shares of the company's stock worth $2,163,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 325,404 shares of the company's stock worth $18,834,000 after acquiring an additional 6,028 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,893,360. Insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of StepStone Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $84.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.86.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of StepStone Group stock traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.82. 2,891,701 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 505,111. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.05 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.22.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. StepStone Group's payout ratio is -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.