Rhumbline Advisers Boosts Stock Position in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in StepStone Group Inc. by 3.5%, owning 177,208 shares valued at approximately $9.26 million following the acquisition of 6,014 additional shares in the first quarter.
• CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares at $61.44, reducing his holdings by 16.67% to 50,000 shares, valued at around $3.07 million.
• StepStone Group announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.28, up from $0.24, with an annualized yield of 1.8% based on a current dividend payout ratio of -36.36%.

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 177,208 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,014 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.15% of StepStone Group worth $9,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in STEP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company's stock worth $387,524,000 after purchasing an additional 481,385 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 7.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company's stock valued at $315,400,000 after buying an additional 438,790 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 13.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company's stock worth $209,495,000 after buying an additional 468,745 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 2.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,580,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,992,000 after acquiring an additional 94,477 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 269.8% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company's stock valued at $154,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,548 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,000 shares of company stock worth $1,830,100. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $61.26 on Thursday. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.26 and a 200-day moving average of $56.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.89 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is presently -36.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on STEP. Barclays boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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 raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. 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.com, StepStone Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.00.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.