Rhumbline Advisers Has $9.26 Million Stock Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 177,208 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,014 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.15% of StepStone Group worth $9,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Amundi increased its position in StepStone Group by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in StepStone Group by 444.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $57.44 on Wednesday. StepStone Group LP has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.99 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $52.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.25.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 12.04%. The company had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that StepStone Group LP will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -40.17%.

Insider Activity

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 900 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $54,009.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,547,091. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. The trade was a 61.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 338,426 shares of company stock valued at $20,325,626 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STEP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.57.

About StepStone Group

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.