Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 24.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,320 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,567 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.05% of StepStone Group worth $3,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of STEP stock traded down $2.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $56.80. The company had a trading volume of 642,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,772. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $57.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.42. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.77 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.87 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. The company's revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -40.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In related news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 199,741 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 491,582 shares in the company, valued at $29,455,593.44. The trade was a 28.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 25.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 426,144 shares of company stock worth $25,370,101. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on STEP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer raised 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays set a $62.00 target price on StepStone Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has an average 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.