StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives $63.43 Average Price Target from Brokerages

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.4286.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on STEP. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays set a $62.00 price objective on StepStone Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,663,481.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,804,800. The trade was a 25.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 199,741 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.92, for a total transaction of $11,968,480.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 491,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,455,593.44. This trade represents a 28.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 426,144 shares of company stock worth $25,370,101. Insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in StepStone Group by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. CWM LLC raised its position in StepStone Group by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in StepStone Group by 943.5% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Stock Up 2.3%

STEP stock opened at $58.08 on Friday. StepStone Group has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The company has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a PE ratio of -24.30 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.33.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 15.21% and a negative net margin of 15.28%. The business had revenue of $295.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.87 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -40.17%.

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.