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

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.7143.

A number of research firms recently commented on STEP. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on StepStone Group in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $725,200.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 74,214 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.14, for a total value of $4,908,513.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 122,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,082,903.26. The trade was a 37.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 362,858 shares of company stock valued at $23,422,844. 16.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,449,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,229,000 after buying an additional 728,410 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in StepStone Group by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,723,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,774,000 after buying an additional 2,257,880 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,138,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,317,000 after acquiring an additional 95,339 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in StepStone Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,961,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,447,000 after acquiring an additional 102,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in StepStone Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,217,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,538,000 after acquiring an additional 37,679 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP opened at $70.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.95. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.84 and a beta of 1.34.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $282.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.15 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 40.06% and a positive return on equity of 21.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.00%.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.