StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Short Interest Down 22.0% in October

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, a decline of 22.0% from the October 15th total of 2,820,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 625,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STEP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.43.

StepStone Group Price Performance

NASDAQ STEP traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $65.00. 690,926 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 576,414. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.29. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $25.06 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The company has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.93 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is 160.00%.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,381,320.71. This represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. American International Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $970,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in StepStone Group by 35.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 190.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 442.7% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

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.