Raymond James Financial Inc. Sells 97,438 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. has reduced its stake in StepStone Group Inc. by 12.2%, selling 97,438 shares, and now holds approximately 0.60% of the company valued at $36.57 million.
• StepStone Group's quarterly earnings report revealed a missed EPS estimate of $0.40 compared to the consensus of $0.42, with a revenue of $237.47 million against expectations of $238.99 million.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $0.28 per share, effective September 15th, up from the previous dividend of $0.24.

Raymond James Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 12.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 700,131 shares of the company's stock after selling 97,438 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.60% of StepStone Group worth $36,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in StepStone Group by 943.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company's stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in StepStone Group by 32.8% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 209,228 shares of the company's stock worth $10,928,000 after acquiring an additional 51,685 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the first quarter worth $813,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the first quarter worth $17,018,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the first quarter worth $611,000. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research downgraded StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total transaction of $3,828,775.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 423,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,965,270.56. The trade was a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,718 shares of company stock valued at $5,658,876. 16.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $63.23. The stock had a trading volume of 218,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 612,382. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $58.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.01. The firm has a market cap of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.53 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The firm had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -31.17%.

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.