Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $2.70 Million Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 62.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,679 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,995 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $2,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after acquiring an additional 265,240 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 3.7% in the third 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in StepStone Group by 43.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 417,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,746,000 after purchasing an additional 126,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 368.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,366,000 after buying an additional 88,095 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total value of $1,397,034.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,629 shares of company stock valued at $2,302,229. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of STEP stock opened at $58.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.05 and a 200-day moving average of $59.79. The company has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.46 and a beta of 1.31. StepStone Group LP has a 52 week low of $32.58 and a 52 week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -56.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on STEP. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

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.