Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $37.85 Million Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its holdings in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 653,947 shares of the company’s stock after selling 56,274 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $37,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth $46,163,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 411,133 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% in the 3rd 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 raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,856,000 after acquiring an additional 216,029 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,310,000 after acquiring an additional 141,637 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $87,318. This trade represents a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $614,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,757,300. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

StepStone Group Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $53.96 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of -31.93 and a beta of 1.33. StepStone Group LP has a 1-year low of $33.92 and a 1-year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -56.80%.

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.