Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Raises Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 76.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 208,281 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 90,052 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned 0.18% of StepStone Group worth $10,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $324,122,000 after purchasing an additional 895,521 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,163,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,340,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 353.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 661,799 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,305,000 after purchasing an additional 515,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company's stock valued at $401,582,000 after purchasing an additional 411,133 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $3,375,961.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,663,481.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,804,800. This represents a 25.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 416,144 shares of company stock worth $24,757,301. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 0.7%

StepStone Group stock traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $62.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 601,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,983. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.32. The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.28 and a beta of 1.36. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 15.21% and a negative net margin of 15.28%. The company had revenue of $295.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's payout ratio is -40.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on STEP. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays set a $62.00 price target on StepStone Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.43.

About StepStone Group

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.