What does his hand holding mean?

I've been "seeing" this guy for a while now. But we haven't talked about whether or not were actually going on dates or not. I'm actually not sure if he likes me or not. But I've had three "unofficial-dates" with him now, one where he took me out to dinner and a movie (which felt like a date to me). We hug whenever we see each other and when saying good bye but nothing else has happened.

I haven't seen him for a few months but we've been chatting over social media sites. Recently I was able to meet up with him and some friends of ours at a social event. At one point he grabbed my hand, which surprised me and when the moment came to either let it go or keep holding it he didn't let go. We held hands with our fingers intertwined a couple of times while walking around in public. He was the one who kept initiating the hand holding, and I watched and he never tried to hold the hands of his other female friends.

He's never held my hand before this, and it makes me think he's starting to like me back? Could this be a step in slowly building a relationship, or does it sound like he just see's me as a friend?