Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 1,195 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,281 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. American International Group Inc. increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $970,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 288,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,309,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 28,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the second quarter valued at $111,000. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP opened at $51.82 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.58 and a beta of 1.28. StepStone Group LP has a 52 week low of $25.06 and a 52 week high of $56.18.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $186.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.15 million. StepStone Group’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that StepStone Group LP will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is an increase from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is 106.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays increased their price target on StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.88.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.