HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 48,385 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 964.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,400 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,385 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $3,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 valued at $51,185,000 after purchasing an additional 225,201 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,310,000 after purchasing an additional 141,637 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new position in StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,254,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in StepStone Group by 333.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 126,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,810,000 after purchasing an additional 97,401 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $62.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.35 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group LP has a 52-week low of $26.49 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.97.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 160.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total transaction of $50,191.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. The trade was a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STEP has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.64.

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.