R Squared Ltd Makes New $91,000 Investment in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of STEP. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 1,586.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in StepStone Group by 442.7% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP stock opened at $64.72 on Friday. StepStone Group LP has a one year low of $32.33 and a one year high of $70.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.67 and its 200 day moving average is $57.90. The firm has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 107.87 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $271.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that StepStone Group LP will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on STEP. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.79.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In related news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total value of $1,397,034.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856 in the last three months. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.