StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Shares Acquired by TD Asset Management Inc

Key Points

• TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 15.5%, acquiring a total of 36,812 shares worth approximately $1.92 million.
• CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group in July, reducing his stake by 14.29% to 60,000 shares valued at around $3.68 million.
• Oppenheimer and Evercore ISI both raised their target prices for StepStone Group, with Oppenheimer setting a new target of $81.00 while Evercore increased theirs to $61.00, both maintaining an "outperform" rating.

TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 15.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,812 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,938 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc's holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,923,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 38.5% during 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 during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 4,020 shares of the company's stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on STEP shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer lifted 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. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.43.

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.6%

STEP traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $58.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 523,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 549,779. The firm has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.33. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $231.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -40.17%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.28, for a total transaction of $612,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,676,800. The trade was a 14.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total value of $3,828,775.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 423,864 shares in the company, valued at $23,965,270.56. This trade represents a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 426,144 shares of company stock worth $25,370,101. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.