Short Interest in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Declines By 15.8%

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) was the target of a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, a drop of 15.8% from the March 31st total of 1,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 378,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ STEP traded down $0.58 on Tuesday, reaching $36.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 320,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,549. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 40.08 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.81. StepStone Group has a 52 week low of $19.83 and a 52 week high of $38.25.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.12. The business had revenue of ($14.61) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.29 million. Analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently 93.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Keck sold 3,694 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total value of $131,026.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 200,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,120,602.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder James Lim sold 9,008 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.06, for a total value of $315,820.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,388,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,989,434.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Keck sold 3,694 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total transaction of $131,026.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 200,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,120,602.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 91,514 shares of company stock worth $3,233,084. 18.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the third quarter worth about $257,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the third quarter worth about $365,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $442,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in StepStone Group by 7.8% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in StepStone Group by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after buying an additional 3,937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on STEP. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of StepStone Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $49.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.21.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.