StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Short Interest Down 15.8% in April

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, a decline 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 days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

StepStone Group Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of STEP stock opened at $36.45 on Friday. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $19.83 and a fifty-two week high of $38.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.71. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50 and a beta of 1.25.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.12. The business had revenue of ($14.61) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.29 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is 93.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. TheStreet lowered StepStone Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.21.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other news, Director Thomas Keck sold 24,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $850,859.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 306,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,758,465.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other 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 transaction of $315,820.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,388,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,989,434.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas Keck sold 24,241 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $850,859.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 306,509 shares in the company, valued at $10,758,465.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 91,514 shares of company stock worth $3,233,084 over the last three months. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in StepStone Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,994,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,635,000 after buying an additional 627,059 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,270,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,749,000 after acquiring an additional 90,974 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,948,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,385,000 after acquiring an additional 46,860 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 11.4% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 2,823,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,175,000 after purchasing an additional 289,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,732,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,305,000 after purchasing an additional 95,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

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.