StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group by 20.6%, now holding 32,441 shares valued at approximately $1.69 million.
• StepStone Group recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.9% and a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.24.
• Despite reporting earnings per share of $0.40, StepStone missed analysts' estimates by $0.02, while showing a significant 95.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 20.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,441 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,533 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, Vicus Capital grew its stake in StepStone Group by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 4,020 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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 price objective (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.00.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 199,741 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.92, for a total transaction of $11,968,480.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 491,582 shares in the company, valued at $29,455,593.44. The trade was a 28.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 426,144 shares of company stock worth $25,370,101 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Trading Up 4.7%

STEP stock traded up $2.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $61.29. The stock had a trading volume of 536,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 610,125. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $57.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.15. The company has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.90 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 posted its quarterly 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 positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%. The company had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. 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.