StepStone Group Inc. $STEP Shares Sold by Bryce Point Capital LLC

Bryce Point Capital LLC trimmed its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,378 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,241 shares during the quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,043,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,422,000 after buying an additional 32,625 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 28.0% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,122,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,326,000 after acquiring an additional 245,546 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,111,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,668,000 after purchasing an additional 16,410 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 967,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,207,000 after purchasing an additional 25,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 705,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,249 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STEP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $105.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI set a $73.00 price target on StepStone Group in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised StepStone Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 target price on StepStone Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.63.

StepStone Group Stock Up 0.2%

STEP opened at $62.55 on Tuesday. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 week high of $77.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $67.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.09. The firm has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.01 and a beta of 1.32.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 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 negative net margin of 30.66% and a positive return on equity of 31.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 102.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. Equities analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is -16.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 70,402 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.30, for a total value of $4,386,044.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 117,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.20, for a total value of $7,800,875.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 306,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,258,921.20. This represents a 27.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 292,454 shares of company stock valued at $19,099,334 over the last quarter. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.