Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 609,619 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,768 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.53% of StepStone Group worth $35,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 368.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,366,000 after acquiring an additional 88,095 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $388,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $941,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 438,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,359,000 after acquiring an additional 20,285 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 216,029 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $614,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $33,894.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $87,318. This represents a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of STEP stock opened at $53.67 on Monday. StepStone Group LP has a 52 week low of $33.01 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of -31.76 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.98.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -56.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STEP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. 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 MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.21.

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.