Brokerages Set StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) PT at $69.21

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.21.

STEP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $53.89 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.11. StepStone Group has a one year low of $33.92 and a one year high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.89 and a beta of 1.33.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -56.80%.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,318. This represents a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $614,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,757,300. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 596,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,919,000 after purchasing an additional 84,762 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 129.7% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 81,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,627,000 after buying an additional 45,974 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 33,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,310,000 after buying an additional 141,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 35,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after acquiring an additional 4,825 shares in the last quarter. 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.