Millennium Management LLC Purchases 2,161,548 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC significantly increased its stake in StepStone Group by 269.8% during the 1st quarter, owning approximately 2.55% of the company valued at $154.7 million.
• StepStone Group announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders with a yield of 1.8%.
• Despite a 95.4% increase in revenue year-over-year, StepStone Group missed earnings estimates by $0.02, reporting $0.40 EPS for the quarter.

Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 269.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,962,826 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,161,548 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned 2.55% of StepStone Group worth $154,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.0% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,602 shares of the company's stock worth $2,068,000 after buying an additional 2,238 shares in the last quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 45.7% during the first quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 508,151 shares of the company's stock worth $26,541,000 after buying an additional 159,416 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company's stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 72.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,135 shares of the company's stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 3,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 31.5% during the first quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,143 shares of the company's stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 1,471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STEP. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI increased 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. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays increased 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, StepStone Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.00.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the 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 $23,965,270.56. This represents a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,000. This represents a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 97,718 shares of company stock worth $5,658,876 over the last 90 days. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ STEP traded down $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $60.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 435,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 586,658. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.93 and a 200 day moving average of $55.93. StepStone Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.77 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -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.