StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,460,000 shares, a decline of 39.2% from the November 30th total of 2,400,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 610,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

StepStone Group stock traded down $1.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.88. The company had a trading volume of 276,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,856. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a PE ratio of 99.80 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group has a 1-year low of $30.46 and a 1-year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 160.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,578.30. This trade represents a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,251 shares in the company, valued at $1,381,320.71. This trade represents a 12.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STEP. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,310,000 after buying an additional 141,637 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after acquiring an additional 265,240 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,856,000 after acquiring an additional 216,029 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 225,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in StepStone Group by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 805,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,279,000 after purchasing an additional 85,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on STEP. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.64.

About StepStone Group

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.