Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,474 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. FMR LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 3.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,310,000 after acquiring an additional 141,637 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 valued at $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 265,240 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 11.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 805,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,279,000 after purchasing an additional 85,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 8.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 800,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,753,000 after buying an additional 60,339 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on STEP shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays dropped their price target on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at $44,108,653. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % 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 worth $1,908,856 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $57.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 95.48 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.57. StepStone Group LP has a 1 year low of $31.15 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

About StepStone Group

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.