State Street Corp Purchases 265,240 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

State Street Corp grew its position in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 12.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,401,034 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 265,240 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 2.17% of StepStone Group worth $136,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in STEP. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the second quarter worth $111,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,202,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 25.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 225,201 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 991.1% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,530 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,378,000 after purchasing an additional 264,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new position in StepStone Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $832,000. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on STEP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays cut their price target on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.64.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of STEP stock traded down $0.06 on Friday, hitting $61.95. 641,077 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 612,505. StepStone Group LP has a 52 week low of $28.35 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.18. The firm has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.25 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is 160.00%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,108,653. The trade was a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total value of $1,397,034.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. The trade was a 12.27 % 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 valued at $1,908,856 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

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.