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

Prana Capital Management LP grew its position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 99.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 111,101 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 55,433 shares during the quarter. Prana Capital Management LP owned 0.09% of StepStone Group worth $7,256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in StepStone Group by 72.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 3,843 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 6.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 357,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,661,000 after purchasing an additional 63,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on STEP shares. Wall Street Zen raised StepStone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Evercore set a $73.00 target price on StepStone Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Barclays raised StepStone Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.86.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $725,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of STEP stock opened at $46.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.08. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $77.79.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 31.44% and a negative net margin of 30.66%.The company had revenue of $241.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 102.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -16.14%.

StepStone Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 9th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

StepStone Group 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.