The Goldman Sachs Group Increases StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target to $46.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $41.25 to $46.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target suggests a potential downside of 0.61% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on STEP. Oppenheimer started coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $49.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.50.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP stock opened at $46.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.42 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.43. StepStone Group has a 12 month low of $23.24 and a 12 month high of $46.87.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $177.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $162.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. StepStone Group’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, Director David F. Hoffmeister purchased 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $44.29 per share, with a total value of $996,525.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 45,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,030,829.37. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David F. Hoffmeister purchased 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $44.29 per share, for a total transaction of $996,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,030,829.37. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total value of $1,219,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,110.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at $149,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the 1st quarter worth about $243,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in StepStone Group by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $442,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 3,937 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.