Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. Cuts Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. lowered its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 62.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 214,478 shares of the company’s stock after selling 351,323 shares during the quarter. StepStone Group comprises approximately 0.9% of Keystone Investors PTE Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $12,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,163,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in StepStone Group by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,582,000 after acquiring an additional 411,133 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,451,000 after acquiring an additional 265,240 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in StepStone Group by 17.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,856,000 after acquiring an additional 216,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,310,000 after purchasing an additional 141,637 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $614,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.21.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $56.54 on Tuesday. StepStone Group LP has a 1 year low of $33.90 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $59.37 and its 200-day moving average is $60.02. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.46 and a beta of 1.33.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.