L & S Advisors Inc Acquires New Holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

L & S Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 226 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Price Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $51.80 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a PE ratio of -30.65 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.10. StepStone Group LP has a 1-year low of $33.92 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, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -56.80%.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $614,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This trade represents a 8.33 % 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, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. 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

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on STEP. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

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.