StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Shares Acquired by Granahan Investment Management LLC

Granahan Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 48.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 348,735 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 114,402 shares during the quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.30% of StepStone Group worth $20,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $401,582,000 after purchasing an additional 411,133 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,599,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,122,000 after acquiring an additional 895,521 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in StepStone Group by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,542,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,027,000 after acquiring an additional 366,154 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in StepStone Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,902,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,109,000 after acquiring an additional 14,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in StepStone Group by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,711,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,083,000 after purchasing an additional 77,490 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

STEP stock opened at $54.67 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $50.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.35 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group LP has a fifty-two week low of $36.97 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $33,894.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $614,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,757,300. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on STEP shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.64.

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.