StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.2857.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on STEP shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st.

StepStone Group Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $62.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.80 and a beta of 1.44. StepStone Group has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $68.40. The company’s fifty day moving average is $62.93 and its 200 day moving average is $60.59.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 21.53% and a negative net margin of 40.06%.The business had revenue of $282.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.15 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. StepStone Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total transaction of $617,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,234,000. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 171,806 shares of company stock worth $10,680,214. 16.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 269.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,548 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new position in StepStone Group during the first quarter worth about $757,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 12.7% in the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 14,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.