StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Lowered to $51.00 at Morgan Stanley

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $69.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.21.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP stock opened at $47.18 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a PE ratio of -27.92 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group has a 12 month low of $34.64 and a 12 month high of $70.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.36.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -56.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,318. This represents a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,599,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,122,000 after buying an additional 895,521 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,163,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,340,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 353.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 661,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,305,000 after purchasing an additional 515,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $401,582,000 after purchasing an additional 411,133 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.