Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires New Shares in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,599,875 shares of the company's stock worth $324,122,000 after purchasing an additional 895,521 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth about $46,163,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth about $32,340,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in StepStone Group by 353.2% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 661,799 shares of the company's stock worth $38,305,000 after buying an additional 515,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in StepStone Group by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company's stock worth $401,582,000 after buying an additional 411,133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.28 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 15.28% and a positive return on equity of 15.21%. The company had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.87 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. StepStone Group's revenue for the quarter was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -40.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.29, for a total value of $602,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 70,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,220,300. This trade represents a 12.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of StepStone Group 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. This trade represents a 61.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 416,144 shares of company stock valued at $24,757,301 in the last three months. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of 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 target price on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.43.

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.