Nuveen LLC Purchases 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 stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 325,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,018,000. Nuveen LLC owned approximately 0.28% of StepStone Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company's stock worth $387,524,000 after acquiring an additional 481,385 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,599,875 shares of the company's stock worth $324,122,000 after purchasing an additional 895,521 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company's stock worth $209,495,000 after purchasing an additional 468,745 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,902,366 shares of the company's stock worth $110,109,000 after purchasing an additional 14,888 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 786,221 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,064,000 after purchasing an additional 227,483 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP traded up $3.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $61.71. 488,487 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 664,116. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The company has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $58.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.06.

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). StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%.The company had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -31.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,073,550.05. The trade was a 61.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 199,741 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.92, for a total value of $11,968,480.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 491,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,455,593.44. This represents a 28.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 422,141 shares of company stock worth $25,129,882 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

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.