Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $837,000 Holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 81.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,728 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,600 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 399.3% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 9,616 shares during the last quarter. Cim LLC bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,489,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $486,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 5,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $597,000. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP opened at $59.97 on Friday. StepStone Group LP has a twelve month low of $25.06 and a twelve month high of $61.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.93. The firm has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.91 and a beta of 1.28.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $186.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that StepStone Group LP will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is presently 126.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on STEP. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.44.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.