William Blair Investment Management LLC Buys 22,871 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group by 4.5%, acquiring an additional 22,871 shares to bring its ownership to approximately 535,125 shares valued at $29.7 million.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on StepStone Group, with Goldman Sachs upgrading the stock to a buy with a target price of $83.00, while Weiss Ratings maintained a sell rating.
• StepStone Group declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, marking an increase from its previous dividend of $0.24, with a current annual yield of 1.8%.

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 535,125 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 22,871 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.46% of StepStone Group worth $29,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings 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 last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings 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 last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in 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. Revisor Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at $209,000. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on STEP shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays set a $70.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $69.57.

StepStone Group Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $61.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.99 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The firm's 50-day moving average is $62.85 and its 200 day moving average is $57.80.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. StepStone Group's payout ratio is currently -36.36%.

Insider Activity

In other StepStone Group news, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,392,985.20. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock worth $1,937,460 over the last quarter. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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