StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $61.93 and last traded at $61.93, with a volume of 199 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $60.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STEP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.19.

StepStone Group Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.81 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $53.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.11.

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 firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group LP will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is 106.67%.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $111,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in StepStone Group during the first quarter worth $149,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in StepStone Group during the second quarter worth $206,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the second quarter worth $266,000. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.