Vicus Capital Has $210,000 Stock Position in StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP)

Vicus Capital boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 9.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,020 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Vicus Capital’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,582,000 after buying an additional 411,133 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,599,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,122,000 after acquiring an additional 895,521 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in StepStone Group by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,542,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,027,000 after acquiring an additional 366,154 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,902,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,109,000 after purchasing an additional 14,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,711,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,083,000 after purchasing an additional 77,490 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ STEP opened at $52.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.04 and a beta of 1.40. StepStone Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.07 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.00 and a 200-day moving average of $56.85.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $295.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 15.21% and a negative net margin of 15.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is -40.17%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $48,016.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,663 shares in the company, valued at $5,441,593.26. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 900 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $54,009.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,547,091. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 406,144 shares of company stock worth $24,154,401 in the last quarter. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About StepStone Group

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.