Short Interest in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Decreases By 17.8%

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,500,000 shares, a decrease of 17.8% from the August 31st total of 3,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 713,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.4 %

StepStone Group stock traded up $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $57.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,122,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 577,909. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 63.64 and a beta of 1.28. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $25.06 and a 1 year high of $58.09.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $186.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.15 million. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This is a boost from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $111,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the first quarter worth $149,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the second quarter worth $206,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the second quarter valued at $266,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $303,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.88.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.