Monument Capital Management Makes New $272,000 Investment in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Monument Capital Management has made a new investment in StepStone Group Inc. valued at $272,000 by acquiring 4,900 shares during the second quarter.
• Recent insider transactions include CEO Scott W. Hart selling 10,000 shares for $614,400, indicating a 16.67% decrease in his ownership.
• StepStone Group recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, raising it from the previous dividend of $0.24, resulting in an annual yield of 1.8%.

Monument Capital Management bought a new stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 943.5% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $209,000. Finally, Vicus Capital increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 9.8% in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $1,937,460. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of STEP stock opened at $62.91 on Friday. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The business's 50 day moving average is $62.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.42. The company has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of -20.43 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 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 company had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. 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 was Friday, August 29th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is -36.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on STEP shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays set a $70.00 target price on StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $69.71.

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.

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