Short Interest in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Decreases By 39.2%

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,460,000 shares, a drop of 39.2% from the November 30th total of 2,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 610,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of StepStone Group stock traded down $1.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 276,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,856. StepStone Group has a one year low of $30.46 and a one year high of $70.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.80 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is 160.00%.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total transaction of $257,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 686,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,108,653. The trade was a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. This represents a 12.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856 in the last quarter. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 442.7% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 777 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

StepStone Group Company 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.