StepStone Group Inc. $STEP Shares Acquired by Quantinno Capital Management LP

Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 694.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 128,427 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 112,255 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $6,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 72.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 3,843 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in StepStone Group by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after buying an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in StepStone Group by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,068,000 after buying an additional 2,238 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in StepStone Group by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 357,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,661,000 after buying an additional 63,519 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at $209,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe bought 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.85 per share, for a total transaction of $5,022,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 433,178 shares in the company, valued at $18,128,499.30. This trade represents a 38.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 2,290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total value of $97,645.60. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:STEP opened at $49.82 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.58. The stock has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of -7.33 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 26.88% and a positive return on equity of 37.69%. The firm had revenue of $305.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -16.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on STEP. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.00.

StepStone Group Profile

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm that provides specialized investment solutions across private equity, private credit and real assets. The firm offers customized portfolios, secondary interests, direct co-investments and tailored advisory services to institutional investors worldwide. StepStone’s integrated research and data analytics platform supports its investment teams in sourcing opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies.

Founded in 2007 as an independent private markets specialist, the company has grown its presence through both organic expansion and strategic partnerships.