Harvest Investment Services LLC Invests $903,000 in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Harvest Investment Services LLC bought a new position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 15,609 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $903,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its stake in StepStone Group by 368.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,019 shares of the company's stock worth $6,366,000 after purchasing an additional 88,095 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth $388,000. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at $355,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $941,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $331,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $614,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of STEP traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $50.53. 575,210 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 663,585. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.90 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group LP has a 1 year low of $35.25 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The firm's fifty day moving average is $52.12 and its 200-day moving average is $58.63.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -56.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on STEP. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on StepStone Group and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.64.

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.