Walleye Capital LLC Takes Position in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• Walleye Capital LLC has acquired a new stake in StepStone Group Inc., purchasing 6,876 shares valued at approximately $359,000 during the first quarter.
• StepStone Group's stock has been trading down 1.6%, with a current price of $61.08, and the company's market capitalization stands at $7.11 billion.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.28 per share, representing a dividend yield of 1.8%, to be paid on September 15th.

Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake 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 institutional investor acquired 6,876 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 943.5% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.6%

StepStone Group stock opened at $61.08 on Wednesday. StepStone Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.83 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. StepStone Group's payout ratio is -36.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI upped 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. Finally, Zacks Research cut StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.00.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total value of $3,828,775.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 423,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,965,270.56. This represents a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,718 shares of company stock valued at $5,658,876 over the last three months. Insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

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.

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