StepStone Group Inc. $STEP Shares Sold by Jump Financial LLC

Key Points

• Jump Financial LLC significantly reduced its holdings in StepStone Group Inc. by 66.4% during the first quarter, bringing its stake down to 34,159 shares valued at approximately $1.78 million.
• StepStone Group is set to increase its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share, up from $0.24, providing an annualized yield of 1.8%.
• Research firms have adjusted their ratings on StepStone Group, with Goldman Sachs raising its price target to $63.00 while Zacks downgraded it to a hold rating.

Jump Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 66.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,159 shares of the company's stock after selling 67,593 shares during the quarter. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 14.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 4,020 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 18,808 shares of the company's stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 8.6% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,048 shares of the company's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.3%

NASDAQ STEP traded down $0.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $62.06. The stock had a trading volume of 449,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 663,201. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.97. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The company has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.15 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%.The company's revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is -36.36%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total value of $3,828,775.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 423,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,965,270.56. This trade represents a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,718 shares of company stock worth $5,658,876. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on STEP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.00.

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.