Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 24.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 329,540 shares of the company's stock after selling 108,590 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of StepStone Group worth $17,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in 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 during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth $46,163,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at $32,340,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 353.2% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 661,799 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,305,000 after acquiring an additional 515,760 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in StepStone Group by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company's stock worth $401,582,000 after acquiring an additional 411,133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STEP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.43.

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.3%

StepStone Group stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $59.97. The company had a trading volume of 338,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,818. The company has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.09 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The company's fifty day moving average is $56.90 and its 200-day moving average is $56.22.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 15.28% and a positive return on equity of 15.21%. The business's revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's payout ratio is currently -40.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total value of $3,828,775.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 423,864 shares in the company, valued at $23,965,270.56. The trade was a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.29, for a total value of $602,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 70,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,220,300. This trade represents a 12.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 416,144 shares of company stock worth $24,757,301 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.44% 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.