Short Interest in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Declines By 15.8%

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, a drop of 15.8% from the March 31st total of 1,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 378,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on StepStone Group from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. TheStreet cut StepStone Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays raised their price target on StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.21.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP traded down $0.58 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 320,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,549. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $19.83 and a 52-week high of $38.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $34.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08 and a beta of 1.26.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.12. The business had revenue of ($14.61) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.29 million. Equities analysts predict that StepStone Group will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.33%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, Director Thomas Keck sold 3,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total transaction of $131,026.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 200,750 shares in the company, valued at $7,120,602.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, major shareholder James Lim sold 9,008 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.06, for a total value of $315,820.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,388,746 shares in the company, valued at $223,989,434.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Keck sold 3,694 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total value of $131,026.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 200,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,120,602.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 91,514 shares of company stock worth $3,233,084 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $257,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $442,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 3,937 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.