Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 41,288 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 593,544 shares of the company’s stock after selling 41,288 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $32,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in StepStone Group by 269.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,748,000 after buying an additional 2,161,548 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,524,000 after acquiring an additional 481,385 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,495,000 after purchasing an additional 468,745 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,400,000 after purchasing an additional 438,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter worth $17,018,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,072,000. This represents a 16.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 171,806 shares of company stock worth $10,677,614. 16.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on STEP. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.29.

StepStone Group Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $62.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of -7.78 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.88. StepStone Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $68.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 21.53% and a negative net margin of 40.06%.The business had revenue of $282.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.15 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. StepStone Group’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.