StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock Rating Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $83.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $64.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 26.93% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.86.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $65.39 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.16. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.23 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. StepStone Group’s revenue was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,392,985.20. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,893,360 in the last quarter. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 332.2% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

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.