StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on STEP. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on StepStone Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, July 20th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.88.

StepStone Group Price Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $50.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a PE ratio of -6.53 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.31.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 43.38% and a negative net margin of 30.53%.The business had revenue of $300.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.32 million. Research analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 2,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $97,645.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe purchased 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $41.85 per share, for a total transaction of $5,022,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 433,178 shares in the company, valued at $18,128,499.30. The trade was a 38.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,843 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 6.0% during the first 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 holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the first quarter valued at $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.