KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Increases Stock Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 12.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,200 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $788,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of STEP. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 38.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in StepStone Group by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 36,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in StepStone Group by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 47,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 77.4% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 6,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in StepStone Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 18,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 value of $63,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock, 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 a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,937,460 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays set a $70.00 price objective on StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.57.

StepStone Group Trading Down 5.4%

Shares of STEP opened at $61.80 on Friday. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The firm has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.06 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.79 and a 200-day moving average of $57.73.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

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