Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Takes Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 291.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 1,586.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 442.7% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 190.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 777 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total value of $1,397,034.84. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold a total of 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856 in the last three months. 18.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on STEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.07.

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $60.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.70 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.73. StepStone Group LP has a 12-month low of $25.88 and a 12-month high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

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.