StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Given New $69.00 Price Target at Barclays

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its target price raised by Barclays from $66.00 to $69.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

STEP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on StepStone Group from $71.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.36.

StepStone Group Stock Up 0.8 %

StepStone Group stock opened at $64.48 on Friday. StepStone Group has a 1-year low of $32.58 and a 1-year high of $70.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.48.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.01. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 11.53%. The firm had revenue of $271.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -56.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. This represents a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total transaction of $257,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,108,653. The trade was a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in StepStone Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in StepStone Group by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 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.