Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Buys 11,567 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 24.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,320 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 11,567 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned 0.05% of StepStone Group worth $3,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bryce Point Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 78.4% in the first quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC now owns 15,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 6,964 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in StepStone Group by 8.4% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 21,494 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,673 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in StepStone Group by 15.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 36,812 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 4,938 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in StepStone Group by 34.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $753,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In related 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 value of $11,968,480.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 491,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,455,593.44. The trade was a 28.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 80,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,804,800. The trade was a 25.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 426,144 shares of company stock worth $25,370,101 over the last quarter. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Down 4.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP traded down $2.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.80. The stock had a trading volume of 642,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 608,281. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The company has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a PE ratio of -23.77 and a beta of 1.36. The firm's fifty day moving average is $57.88 and its 200 day moving average is $56.43.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $231.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is currently -40.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on STEP shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. 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 research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.