JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 683,089 Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,634,382 shares of the company’s stock after selling 683,089 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $92,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at $44,108,653. This trade represents a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856 in the last ninety days. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

StepStone Group Price Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $58.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.82 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.63. StepStone Group LP has a 1 year low of $30.46 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 160.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on STEP shares. Barclays dropped their target price on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.64.

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.