Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $4.18 Million Stock Holdings in StepStone Group Inc. $STEP

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its position in shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,191 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,682 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.06% of StepStone Group worth $4,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of STEP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 72.6% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,238 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 357,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,661,000 after acquiring an additional 63,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STEP has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on StepStone Group in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings downgraded StepStone Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.88.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $53.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.90 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. StepStone Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.58 and a 12-month high of $77.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.12.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $305.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.11 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 37.69% and a negative net margin of 26.88%.StepStone Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Analysts predict that StepStone Group Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -16.14%.

StepStone Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 9th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership 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.