National Bank of Canada FI Sells 65,152 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 55.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 52,982 shares of the company’s stock after selling 65,152 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $3,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of STEP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,582,000 after acquiring an additional 411,133 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 265,240 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 4.7% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,856,000 after buying an additional 216,029 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in StepStone Group by 26.8% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. Barclays decreased their price target on StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $87,318. The trade was a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $614,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,757,300. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $43.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.79 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $57.25 and its 200-day moving average is $59.91. StepStone Group LP has a twelve month low of $34.64 and a twelve month high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -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.