Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Increases Stock Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 40.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 786,221 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 227,483 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.68% of StepStone Group worth $41,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 77.4% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company's stock worth $753,000 after buying an additional 6,289 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $355,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 38.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 42.8% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,527 shares of the company's stock worth $1,229,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth $331,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of STEP traded down $1.55 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $61.26. The company had a trading volume of 399,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,095. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The business has a fifty day moving average of $57.46 and a 200-day moving average of $56.30. The firm has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.63 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $295.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 15.28% and a positive return on equity of 15.21%. StepStone Group's revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is -40.17%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In related news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total value of $3,828,775.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 423,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,965,270.56. This represents a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.29, for a total value of $602,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 70,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,220,300. This trade represents a 12.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 416,144 shares of company stock valued at $24,757,301 in the last quarter. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on STEP. Barclays set a $62.00 price target on StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.43.

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.