StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.19.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays increased their price target on StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on StepStone Group from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on StepStone Group from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of STEP opened at $60.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a PE ratio of 67.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.96. StepStone Group has a 12-month low of $25.06 and a 12-month high of $60.96.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $186.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.15 million. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. This is an increase from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 74.3% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 50,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,791,000 after acquiring an additional 21,354 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 749.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 14,118 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,994,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,635,000 after buying an additional 627,059 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 991.1% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,378,000 after buying an additional 264,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter worth $5,254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

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.