Creative Planning Acquires 3,524 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 10.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,170 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,419,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,524,000 after acquiring an additional 481,385 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in StepStone Group by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,400,000 after purchasing an additional 438,790 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in StepStone Group by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,495,000 after buying an additional 468,745 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,580,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,992,000 after acquiring an additional 94,477 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 269.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,748,000 after buying an additional 2,161,548 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research lowered StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.29.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of STEP opened at $62.58 on Wednesday. StepStone Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $68.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.45.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $282.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.15 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 21.53% and a negative net margin of 40.06%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. On average, analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -14.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.34, for a total value of $643,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,930,200. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,392,985.20. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 161,806 shares of company stock worth $10,063,214 in the last quarter. 16.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.