StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.00.

STEP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 13th.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, insider Michael I. Mccabe purchased 120,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $41.85 per share, with a total value of $5,022,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 433,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,128,499.30. This represents a 38.32% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 2,290 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $97,645.60. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Essential Partners LLC grew its position in StepStone Group by 17,350.0% during the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 414,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,791,000 after buying an additional 144,752 shares during the period. Bull Harbor Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $468,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 8.3% in the first quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in StepStone Group by 51.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 17,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 5,979 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP stock opened at $41.11 on Friday. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.05 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.45.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $305.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.11 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 26.88% and a positive return on equity of 37.69%. StepStone Group’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -16.47%.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm that provides specialized investment solutions across private equity, private credit and real assets. The firm offers customized portfolios, secondary interests, direct co-investments and tailored advisory services to institutional investors worldwide. StepStone’s integrated research and data analytics platform supports its investment teams in sourcing opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies.

Founded in 2007 as an independent private markets specialist, the company has grown its presence through both organic expansion and strategic partnerships.