StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives $80.57 Average Target Price from Brokerages

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.5714.

STEP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on StepStone Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of StepStone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Oppenheimer cut their price target 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. Zacks Research downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th.

StepStone Group Price Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $50.07 on Wednesday. StepStone Group has a 12-month low of $40.07 and a 12-month high of $77.79. The company has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.21 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $66.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.82.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $241.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 102.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently -16.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 117,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.20, for a total value of $7,800,875.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 306,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,258,921.20. This represents a 27.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $725,200.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 222,052 shares of company stock worth $14,713,290. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 72.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 3,843 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in StepStone Group by 21.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 357,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,661,000 after purchasing an additional 63,519 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Hedge funds and other 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.