SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires Shares of 7,209 StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $400,000.

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Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $387,524,000 after acquiring an additional 481,385 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company's stock valued at $315,400,000 after buying an additional 438,790 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company's stock worth $209,495,000 after purchasing an additional 468,745 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 2.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,580,157 shares of the company's stock worth $186,992,000 after buying an additional 94,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in StepStone Group by 269.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company's stock worth $154,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,548 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ STEP opened at $62.62 on Friday. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $68.40. The stock has a market cap of $7.41 billion, a PE ratio of -7.83 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.28 and a 200-day moving average of $60.48.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 40.06% and a positive return on equity of 21.53%. The company had revenue of $282.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $272.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. StepStone Group's payout ratio is presently -14.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total value of $617,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,234,000. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 171,806 shares of company stock worth $10,680,214. Insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on StepStone Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded StepStone Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.29.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on STEP

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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