StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Raised to $69.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $66.00 to $69.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on STEP. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.36.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP stock opened at $64.48 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.33 and its 200-day moving average is $58.65. The stock has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.15 and a beta of 1.31. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $32.58 and a 52-week high of $70.38.

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

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,108,653. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,381,320.71. The trade was a 12.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

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.