Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Decreases Stake in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,474 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. CWM LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 14.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 943.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the second quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, Vicus Capital grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 9.8% during the first quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 4,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $647,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,588,000. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $1,937,460 over the last ninety days. 16.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays set a $70.00 price target on StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.71.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $62.91 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.43. The stock has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of -20.43 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently -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.