StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) is Inherent Group LP’s 6th Largest Position

Inherent Group LP reduced its position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 23.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,771 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,000 shares during the quarter. StepStone Group accounts for about 6.6% of Inherent Group LP’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Inherent Group LP owned approximately 0.15% of StepStone Group worth $7,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of STEP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 563,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,940,000 after purchasing an additional 46,107 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 634,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,207,000 after acquiring an additional 116,439 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 35.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 29,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 7,892 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 628,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,006,000 after acquiring an additional 136,542 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,994,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,635,000 after acquiring an additional 627,059 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on STEP. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays increased their target price on StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on StepStone Group from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.88.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ STEP opened at $56.51 on Tuesday. StepStone Group LP has a fifty-two week low of $25.06 and a fifty-two week high of $57.31. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.79 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.40.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that StepStone Group LP will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is a positive change from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.67%.

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.