Nuveen LLC Buys Shares of 325,832 StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has acquired a new stake in StepStone Group Inc., purchasing 325,832 shares valued at approximately $17 million, which accounts for 0.28% of the company.
• StepStone Group recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.12 and a yield of 1.9%.
• The company's latest earnings report revealed a 95.4% increase in revenue year-over-year, but it missed earnings per share estimates, reporting $0.40 compared to the expected $0.42.

Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 325,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,018,000. Nuveen LLC owned about 0.28% of StepStone Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 77.4% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company's stock worth $753,000 after purchasing an additional 6,289 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 38.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 42.8% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,527 shares of the company's stock worth $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 2.7% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 24,558 shares of the company's stock worth $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $558,000. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STEP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays raised their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.00.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,073,550.05. This trade represents a 61.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 80,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,804,800. This trade represents a 25.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 422,141 shares of company stock valued at $25,129,882 over the last ninety days. 16.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Up 2.0%

STEP stock traded up $1.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $62.66. 666,954 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 657,454. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.34 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.97. StepStone Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is -31.17%.

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.