Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes $625,000 Position in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) during Q2, purchasing 11,262 shares valued at $625,000. Other institutional investors also increased their stakes. Analysts have mixed ratings on STEP, with a consensus rating of 'Moderate Buy' and an average target price of $74.29. StepStone reported Q3 earnings of $0.54 per share, beating estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share. The stock opened at $63.16 on Friday.

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $625,000.

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Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 269.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company's stock valued at $154,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,548 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 481,385 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 13.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company's stock worth $209,495,000 after buying an additional 468,745 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 7.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company's stock worth $315,400,000 after buying an additional 438,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in StepStone Group during the first quarter worth about $17,018,000. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STEP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.29.

View Our Latest Report on StepStone Group

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $63.16 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $63.25 and a 200 day moving average of $60.52. The firm has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of -7.90 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group Inc. has a one year low of $40.07 and a one year high of $68.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $282.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $272.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total transaction of $617,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,234,000. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 171,806 shares of company stock worth $10,680,214. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Profile

(Free Report)

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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