Prana Capital Management LP Buys 55,433 Shares of StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Prana Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 99.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,101 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,433 shares during the quarter. Prana Capital Management LP’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $7,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,721,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,289,000 after acquiring an additional 296,378 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in StepStone Group by 65.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,723,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,774,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,880 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in StepStone Group by 2.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,138,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,317,000 after purchasing an additional 95,339 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 3.6% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,961,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,447,000 after purchasing an additional 102,585 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,217,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,538,000 after purchasing an additional 37,679 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $725,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 16.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP stock opened at $46.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 1.39. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $77.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.08.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $241.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 102.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 9th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were 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 was Friday, February 27th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is -16.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on STEP. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price target on StepStone Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays upgraded StepStone Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research cut StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.86.

StepStone Group Company 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.