Quantbot Technologies LP Sells 17,194 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Quantbot Technologies LP trimmed its stake in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,928 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,194 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in StepStone Group by 2.7% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 967,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,207,000 after buying an additional 25,559 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 487,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,836,000 after acquiring an additional 160,318 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,859,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 36.1% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 523,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,222,000 after purchasing an additional 138,857 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,721,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,289,000 after purchasing an additional 296,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 117,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.20, for a total value of $7,800,875.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 306,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,258,921.20. This trade represents a 27.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $725,200.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 212,052 shares of company stock valued at $14,096,290. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on STEP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of StepStone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on StepStone Group from $105.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.86.

StepStone Group Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of STEP stock opened at $47.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.86 and a beta of 1.39. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $77.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.93.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 30.66% and a positive return on equity of 31.44%. The company had revenue of $241.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 102.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -16.14%.

StepStone Group 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.