StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Shares Acquired by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 52.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,732 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,750 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in StepStone Group by 444.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 969 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $48,016.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,663 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,441,593.26. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $54,009.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,547,091. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Up 1.1%

STEP stock traded up $0.67 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 509,592 shares, compared to its average volume of 679,123. StepStone Group LP has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.48 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. The company 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 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 12.04%. The firm's revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group LP will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -40.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on STEP shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on StepStone Group and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.64.

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.