StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Short Interest Update

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, a decline of 22.0% from the October 15th total of 2,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 625,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,251 shares in the company, valued at $1,381,320.71. The trade was a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total transaction of $50,191.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,310,000 after acquiring an additional 141,637 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 265,240 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 17.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 25.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,115,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,185,000 after acquiring an additional 225,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 150.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 850,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,396,000 after acquiring an additional 510,283 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on STEP. Barclays lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.43.

StepStone Group Stock Down 0.6 %

STEP stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $65.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 690,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 576,414. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $25.06 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.49. The stock has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.33 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.