Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 8,124 StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

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

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $65.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.83 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group LP has a 12 month low of $25.06 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.10.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total transaction of $50,191.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,578.30. This represents a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,381,320.71. The trade was a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

StepStone Group Company 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.