StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.64.

Several research firms have issued reports on STEP. UBS Group raised their target price on StepStone Group from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total transaction of $1,219,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,110.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other StepStone Group news, Director David F. Hoffmeister purchased 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $44.29 per share, with a total value of $996,525.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 45,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,030,829.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $406,110.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. American International Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $970,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 72,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 288,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Up 0.6 %

STEP stock opened at $45.67 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.86. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.74 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $23.24 and a 52-week high of $46.82.

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

StepStone Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a yield of 1.9%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is 93.33%.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.