Squarepoint Ops LLC Lowers Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Squarepoint Ops LLC lowered its holdings in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 8.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 258,252 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,982 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $10,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in StepStone Group by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $119,000. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its position in StepStone Group by 29.5% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 131,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 29,984 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in StepStone Group by 3,976.8% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,415,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,276,000 after purchasing an additional 3,331,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,752,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.6%

STEP opened at $49.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19. StepStone Group Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $77.79. The company has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.47 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.71.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $300.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.32 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 30.53% and a positive return on equity of 43.38%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on STEP. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of StepStone Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Eight 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.56.

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.