Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 438,130 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,285 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.38% of StepStone Group worth $25,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 1,586.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 442.7% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $69.21.

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Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at $44,108,653. This trade represents a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at $9,986,165.16. This represents a 12.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,629 shares of company stock worth $2,302,229 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Stock Up 2.7 %

STEP stock traded up $1.56 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $59.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 106,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 468,663. The company has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of -35.06 and a beta of 1.31. StepStone Group LP has a 12 month low of $32.58 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.81.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio is presently -56.80%.

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.