Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Acquires 5,402 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 162.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,734 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $506,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,582,000 after buying an additional 411,133 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,542,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,027,000 after buying an additional 366,154 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,711,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,083,000 after buying an additional 77,490 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,508,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,341,000 after buying an additional 50,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,409,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,518,000 after buying an additional 297,989 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP stock opened at $50.23 on Tuesday. StepStone Group LP has a 52-week low of $35.25 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.55. The company has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.72 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -56.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on STEP. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,318. This represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.