StepStone Group Inc. $STEP Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,897 shares of the company’s stock after selling 596 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 77.4% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $753,000 after purchasing an additional 6,289 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 38.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 42.8% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 2.7% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 24,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $558,000. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total transaction of $3,828,775.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 423,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,965,270.56. The trade was a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,718 shares of company stock worth $5,658,876. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ STEP opened at $61.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.83 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.00.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The company had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. StepStone Group’s quarterly revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -36.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on STEP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $84.00 target price (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research cut StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.00.

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.