Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 126,315 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 43.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 417,845 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,315 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $23,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in StepStone Group by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 265,240 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 25.3% during 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. 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 valued at $82,856,000 after acquiring an additional 216,029 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,310,000 after acquiring an additional 141,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,254,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on STEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.64.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of STEP stock opened at $60.26 on Thursday. StepStone Group LP has a 12 month low of $30.46 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.10.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

About StepStone Group

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.