Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Has $40.68 Million Stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 702,767 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,594 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $40,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 33,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 15.8% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 35,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after purchasing an additional 4,825 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $462,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in StepStone Group by 964.8% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 53,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,046,000 after purchasing an additional 48,385 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $33,894.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,757,300. The trade was a 8.33 % 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.21.

StepStone Group Trading Down 8.0 %

STEP stock opened at $43.90 on Friday. StepStone Group LP has a 1-year low of $34.01 and a 1-year high of $70.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $57.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.93. The firm has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of -25.98 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -56.80%.

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.