Blair William & Co. IL Boosts Stock Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 464.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,979 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,020 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Amundi lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $614,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $33,894.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,318. The trade was 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 owned by company insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ STEP opened at $53.89 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.11. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of -31.89 and a beta of 1.33. StepStone Group LP has a fifty-two week low of $33.92 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -56.80%.

About StepStone Group

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.