StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $70.46 and last traded at $70.46, with a volume of 564 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.03.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.71.

StepStone Group Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $58.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.87. The company has a market capitalization of $7.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.39 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.41%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 150.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 850,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,396,000 after acquiring an additional 510,283 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 worth $13,378,000 after purchasing an additional 264,811 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 225,201 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,254,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 333.4% in 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 last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.