StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Shares Purchased by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 28.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,916 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,357 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 991.1% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,378,000 after acquiring an additional 264,811 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 225,201 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,310,000 after buying an additional 141,637 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,254,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 333.4% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 126,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,810,000 after buying an additional 97,401 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Trading Down 8.1 %

NASDAQ:STEP opened at $57.28 on Thursday. StepStone Group LP has a 12-month low of $29.17 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.55. The firm has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.47 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,381,320.71. This represents a 12.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,578.30. This trade represents a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856. 18.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.64.

StepStone Group 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.