Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 23,020 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 464.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,979 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,020 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in StepStone Group were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $614,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on STEP. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $69.21.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

StepStone Group stock traded down $3.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,142,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 639,610. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $57.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.00. StepStone Group LP has a 12 month low of $34.64 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The company has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.98 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

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

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.