Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Grows Stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 162.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,734 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $401,582,000 after buying an additional 411,133 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,542,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,027,000 after buying an additional 366,154 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,711,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,083,000 after buying an additional 77,490 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,508,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,341,000 after buying an additional 50,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,409,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,518,000 after buying an additional 297,989 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,318. This represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $614,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Trading Down 0.6 %

StepStone Group stock opened at $50.23 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a PE ratio of -29.72 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group LP has a 1-year low of $35.25 and a 1-year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -56.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STEP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.64.

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.