National Bank of Canada FI Grows Stock Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in StepStone Group Inc. by 17.3% in Q1, now owning approximately $3.25 million worth of the company.
• The company has seen notable upgrades in target prices from several analysts, with Barclays setting a new target at $63.00 and Oppenheimer raising theirs to $84.00.
• StepStone Group is set to increase its quarterly dividend to $0.28, marking a boost from the previous dividend of $0.24, representing an annualized yield of 1.8%.

National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 17.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,170 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,188 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.05% of StepStone Group worth $3,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, Vicus Capital increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports 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 research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays upped their target price on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research downgraded StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 price target (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.00.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 199,741 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.92, for a total value of $11,968,480.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 491,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,455,593.44. This trade represents a 28.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total transaction of $1,663,481.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,804,800. This represents a 25.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 424,444 shares of company stock valued at $25,268,076. 16.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP traded up $0.2950 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.8750. 64,216 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 611,510. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38. The firm has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a PE ratio of -19.41 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.06.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. StepStone Group's revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is -31.17%.

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.