StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Short Interest Down 39.2% in December

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

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:STEP traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $59.88. The stock had a trading volume of 276,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,856. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.33. The company has a market cap 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 160.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total value of $204,630.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,381,320.71. This trade represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 442.7% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 190.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STEP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.