Short Interest in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Decreases By 22.0%

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,578.30. This trade represents a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total value of $204,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,251 shares in the company, valued at $1,381,320.71. This trade represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in StepStone Group by 442.7% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 190.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $65.00. 690,926 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, 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 has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.93 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.29.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on STEP. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.43.

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.