StepStone Group Inc. $STEP Holdings Raised by Rhumbline Advisers

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 increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,208 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,014 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.15% of StepStone Group worth $9,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 77.4% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company's stock worth $753,000 after buying an additional 6,289 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 42.8% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,527 shares of the company's stock worth $1,229,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 269.8% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company's stock worth $154,748,000 after buying an additional 2,161,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 24,558 shares of the company's stock worth $1,283,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of StepStone Group stock traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $60.99. The company had a trading volume of 114,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 600,462. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.05. The company has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a PE ratio of -19.78 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 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 business had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -36.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI upped 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, July 10th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.00.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,072,000. This represents a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,893,360. Company insiders own 16.47% 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.