Xponance Inc. Increases Stock Position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,048 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised 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 worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in StepStone Group by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $3,375,961.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. The trade was a 61.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.29, for a total transaction of $602,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 70,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,220,300. The trade was a 12.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 416,144 shares of company stock valued at $24,757,301. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP opened at $62.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.32. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.28 and a beta of 1.36.

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

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -40.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company 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 stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.43.

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.