Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Trims Position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 4.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 23,891 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,071 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in StepStone Group by 444.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.2%

STEP stock opened at $56.16 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $55.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.48. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The company has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a PE ratio of -23.50 and a beta of 1.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 15.21% and a negative net margin of 15.28%. StepStone Group’s revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. Research analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -40.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on STEP. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on StepStone Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 1,403 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $84,194.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,462,896.97. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jason P. Ment sold 800 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $48,016.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 90,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,441,593.26. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 406,144 shares of company stock valued at $24,154,401 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

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.