Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from $74.00 to $81.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer’s price target points to a potential upside of 37.64% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays set a $62.00 price objective on StepStone Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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 data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.43.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of STEP opened at $58.85 on Monday. StepStone Group has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.62 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $57.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.24.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 15.21% and a negative net margin of 15.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 34,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 67,718 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total transaction of $3,828,775.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 423,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,965,270.56. The trade was a 13.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 416,144 shares of company stock valued at $24,757,301. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Amundi raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in StepStone Group by 444.4% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 38.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.