Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $2.83 Million Stock Position in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,958 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,805 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 77.4% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $753,000 after purchasing an additional 6,289 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 38.5% during the first 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 269.8% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,548 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 42.8% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 2.7% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 24,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $84.00 price target (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.83.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $647,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,588,000. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,000 shares of company stock worth $2,540,360. Insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.9%

NASDAQ STEP opened at $64.05 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $61.58 and its 200-day moving average is $56.96. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The firm has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.80 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is presently -36.36%.

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.