MetLife Investment Management LLC Raises Stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,418 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,825 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of STEP. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in StepStone Group by 749.8% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 14,118 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 991.1% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,378,000 after buying an additional 264,811 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,254,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in StepStone Group by 25.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,115,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,185,000 after buying an additional 225,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 399.3% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 9,616 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $62.24 on Friday. StepStone Group LP has a 12-month low of $25.26 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.73 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.19.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is presently 160.00%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at $148,578.30. This trade represents a 25.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total value of $1,397,034.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. This represents a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays raised their price target on StepStone Group from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

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.