BMO Capital Markets Cuts StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target to $58.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $70.00 to $58.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 23.10% from the company’s previous close.

STEP has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on StepStone Group from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore set a $73.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $105.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.57.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STEP traded down $0.53 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.12. 352,114 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,285,252. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.80 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $57.66 and its 200 day moving average is $61.68. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 31.44% and a negative net margin of 30.66%.The business had revenue of $241.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 102.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 9th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $725,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,723,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,774,000 after buying an additional 2,257,880 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in StepStone Group during the third quarter valued at about $50,859,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,449,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,229,000 after buying an additional 728,410 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in StepStone Group by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,102,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,439,000 after acquiring an additional 724,201 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in StepStone Group by 320.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 749,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,972,000 after acquiring an additional 571,643 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm that provides specialized investment solutions across private equity, private credit and real assets. The firm offers customized portfolios, secondary interests, direct co-investments and tailored advisory services to institutional investors worldwide. StepStone’s integrated research and data analytics platform supports its investment teams in sourcing opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies.

Founded in 2007 as an independent private markets specialist, the company has grown its presence through both organic expansion and strategic partnerships.