StepStone Group Inc. $STEP Shares Sold by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,549 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,474 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $4,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STEP. CWM LLC raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 14.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 943.5% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $204,000. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the second quarter valued at $210,000. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. One 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.29.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of STEP opened at $63.09 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.96. The stock has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.89 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $282.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.15 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 40.06% and a positive return on equity of 21.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.34, for a total transaction of $643,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,930,200. The trade was a 25.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 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. Insiders sold a total of 171,806 shares of company stock valued at $10,677,614 over the last quarter. Company 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.