Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Makes New Investment in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 778,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,859,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 0.67% of StepStone Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 967,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,207,000 after purchasing an additional 25,559 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 49.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 487,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,836,000 after purchasing an additional 160,318 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 36.1% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 523,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,222,000 after purchasing an additional 138,857 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 10.8% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,007,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in StepStone Group by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP stock opened at $46.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.77 and a beta of 1.32. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.00 and a 200-day moving average of $63.48.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $241.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.92 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 31.44% and a negative net margin of 30.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 102.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Equities analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently -16.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on STEP. Barclays set a $67.00 target price on StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on StepStone Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. One research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $725,200.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 74,214 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.14, for a total value of $4,908,513.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 122,209 shares in the company, valued at $8,082,903.26. This trade represents a 37.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 212,052 shares of company stock worth $14,096,290 in the last three months. Insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company 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.