Legal & General Group Plc Buys 4,959 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 172,621 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,959 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $9,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi increased its stake in StepStone Group by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in StepStone Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 9,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 30,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,771,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $33,894.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,757,300. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of STEP opened at $47.06 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $53.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.12. StepStone Group LP has a twelve month low of $34.91 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of -27.85 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -56.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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, Barclays lowered their price objective on StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.64.

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.