William Blair Investment Management LLC Grows Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 491,183 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 69,513 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.43% of StepStone Group worth $28,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $355,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 26,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 126,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,345,000 after buying an additional 14,100 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $331,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 19,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 4,311 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 0.2 %

STEP opened at $54.54 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.68 and a 200 day moving average of $59.99. StepStone Group LP has a 52-week low of $33.18 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.27 and a beta of 1.33.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -56.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on STEP. Barclays lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $614,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,757,300. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of StepStone Group 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

StepStone Group 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.