Bessemer Group Inc. Has $2.72 Million Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 15,526.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,036 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,671 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in StepStone Group by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 414 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 155.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 514 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 58.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 60.0% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on STEP. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group assumed coverage on StepStone Group in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of StepStone Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 2,290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $97,645.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe acquired 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $41.85 per share, with a total value of $5,022,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 433,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,128,499.30. This represents a 38.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 16.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP stock opened at $42.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $45.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.61. StepStone Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79. The company has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.32 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $305.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.11 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 37.69% and a negative net margin of 26.88%.StepStone Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -16.47%.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm that provides specialized investment solutions across private equity, private credit and real assets. The firm offers customized portfolios, secondary interests, direct co-investments and tailored advisory services to institutional investors worldwide. StepStone’s integrated research and data analytics platform supports its investment teams in sourcing opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies.

Founded in 2007 as an independent private markets specialist, the company has grown its presence through both organic expansion and strategic partnerships.