StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Short Interest Down 39.2% in December

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in 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 trading volume, of 610,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 157,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,986,165.16. This represents a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856 over the last 90 days. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group by 291.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in StepStone Group by 35.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 190.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings 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 period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on STEP shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.64.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $60.93 on Friday. StepStone Group has a 1-year low of $30.46 and a 1-year high of $70.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.55 and a beta of 1.27.

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 issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 160.00%.

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.