Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $17.21 Million Stock Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 24.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 329,540 shares of the company's stock after selling 108,590 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.28% of StepStone Group worth $17,212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company's stock valued at $401,582,000 after buying an additional 411,133 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in StepStone Group by 19.0% in the fourth 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. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,542,270 shares of the company's stock worth $205,027,000 after purchasing an additional 366,154 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,902,366 shares of the company's stock valued at $110,109,000 after purchasing an additional 14,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,711,872 shares of the company's stock valued at $99,083,000 after purchasing an additional 77,490 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $59.77. The company had a trading volume of 400,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 624,719. StepStone Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The company has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a PE ratio of -25.01 and a beta of 1.36. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $56.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.28.

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

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is -40.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, 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 value of $1,663,481.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $3,375,961.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 34,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,073,550.05. The trade was a 61.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 406,144 shares of company stock worth $24,154,401 over the last three months. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays set a $62.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.43.

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.