Short Interest in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Rises By 38.4%

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,020,000 shares, an increase of 38.4% from the December 15th total of 1,460,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 580,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 809 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 442.7% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 190.4% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on STEP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer raised 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. UBS Group upped their target price on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.64.

StepStone Group Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ STEP traded up $0.84 during trading on Thursday, hitting $61.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 243,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 468,155. StepStone Group has a 52 week low of $31.15 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.80 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.69.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

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.