Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 66,523 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 871,718 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,523 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $50,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in STEP. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Amundi raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in StepStone Group by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,318. The trade was a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on STEP shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

StepStone Group Trading Down 8.0 %

STEP opened at $43.90 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.93. The stock has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of -25.98 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group LP has a 1 year low of $34.01 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -56.80%.

StepStone Group 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.