Eagle Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 13.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 397,272 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 46,912 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.36% of StepStone Group worth $22,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 10.8% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,898 shares of the company's stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in StepStone Group by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 18,359 shares of the company's stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 2,950 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. raised its stake in StepStone Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,152 shares of the company's stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 288,459 shares of the company's stock worth $10,309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in StepStone Group by 150.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 850,463 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,396,000 after acquiring an additional 510,283 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of STEP stock traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $67.05. 284,547 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 576,115. The company has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a PE ratio of 111.75 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $60.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.50. StepStone Group LP has a 12-month low of $25.06 and a 12-month high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total transaction of $50,191.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,381,320.71. The trade was a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on STEP shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research 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 has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.36.

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.