Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 11.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 805,195 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 85,904 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.70% of StepStone Group worth $48,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased 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 worth $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 265,240 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in StepStone Group by 991.1% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,378,000 after buying an additional 264,811 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 25.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,115,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,185,000 after buying an additional 225,201 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,856,000 after buying an additional 216,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 141,637 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

StepStone Group Stock Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $62.30 on Wednesday. StepStone Group LP has a fifty-two week low of $28.58 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.83 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $62.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.53.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the company’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 owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,578.30. This trade represents a 25.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

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.