Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 85,904 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 11.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 805,195 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 85,904 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.70% of StepStone Group worth $48,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in StepStone Group by 749.8% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,001 shares of the company's stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 14,118 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 991.1% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,530 shares of the company's stock worth $13,378,000 after purchasing an additional 264,811 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new position in StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,254,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the third quarter valued at about $717,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in StepStone Group by 25.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,115,384 shares of the company's stock worth $51,185,000 after buying an additional 225,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total value of $204,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,381,320.71. This represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $148,578.30. This represents a 25.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856 in the last quarter. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

StepStone Group Trading Down 8.1 %

Shares of STEP traded down $5.02 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $57.28. 845,009 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 583,574. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.82 and a 200-day moving average of $54.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 95.47 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group LP has a 1-year low of $29.17 and a 1-year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on STEP shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.64.

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.