Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 272,581 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 30.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 634,832 shares of the company’s stock after selling 272,581 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.55% of StepStone Group worth $33,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Amundi boosted its position in StepStone Group by 26.7% during 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. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in StepStone Group by 444.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 34,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. This trade represents a 61.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,663,481.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,804,800. This represents a 25.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 416,144 shares of company stock valued at $24,757,301 in the last ninety days. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of STEP stock opened at $58.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.62 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.02 and its 200 day moving average is $56.24.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 15.28% and a positive return on equity of 15.21%. The company had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -40.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on STEP shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays set a $62.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.43.

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.