Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Buys 4,266 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,684 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,266 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in StepStone Group by 943.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in StepStone Group in the second quarter worth about $204,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $209,000. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research lowered StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.29.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total transaction of $617,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,234,000. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 171,806 shares of company stock valued at $10,680,214. 16.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of STEP stock opened at $62.62 on Thursday. StepStone Group Inc. has a one year low of $40.07 and a one year high of $68.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $63.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.47. The company has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.83 and a beta of 1.36.

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

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.00%.

StepStone Group Profile

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.