Creative Planning Increases Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Creative Planning increased its position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% in the 1st 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. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 88.2% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 943.5% in 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 period. Revisor Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $204,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP stock opened at $62.58 on Wednesday. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $68.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.45.

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

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on STEP shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research downgraded StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on StepStone Group in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.29.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 70,402 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.30, for a total value of $4,386,044.60. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 161,806 shares of company stock worth $10,063,214 over the last 90 days. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.