Quest Partners LLC Acquires New Holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of STEP. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the third quarter valued at about $365,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in StepStone Group by 7.8% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in StepStone Group by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 3,937 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 30.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 5,089 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP traded up $3.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.71. 1,223,292 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 332,397. StepStone Group LP has a 12-month low of $19.83 and a 12-month high of $41.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.90. The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.34 and a beta of 1.23.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $177.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $162.47 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group LP will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on STEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.79.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, Director Thomas Keck sold 3,694 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total transaction of $131,026.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 200,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,120,602.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

StepStone Group Profile

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.