Prudential Financial Inc. Has $11.28 Million Stock Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 194,916 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,040 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.17% of StepStone Group worth $11,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth $46,163,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,938,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,582,000 after purchasing an additional 411,133 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 265,240 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,856,000 after buying an additional 216,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 141,637 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on STEP. Evercore ISI upped their price target on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.21.

StepStone Group Price Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $51.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.65 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.97. StepStone Group LP has a 52-week low of $33.92 and a 52-week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -56.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $614,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,757,300. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now 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. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

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.