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

Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.5714.

STEP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price target on StepStone Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on StepStone Group from $105.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of StepStone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of STEP opened at $45.75 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $65.64 and its 200-day moving average is $63.71. The company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.59 and a beta of 1.32. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $40.07 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $241.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.92 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 30.66% and a positive return on equity of 31.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 102.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is presently -16.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 117,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.20, for a total transaction of $7,800,875.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 306,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,258,921.20. This represents a 27.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $725,200.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 212,052 shares of company stock worth $14,096,290 over the last three months. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in StepStone Group by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 967,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,207,000 after acquiring an additional 25,559 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 49.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 487,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,836,000 after purchasing an additional 160,318 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 36.1% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 523,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,222,000 after purchasing an additional 138,857 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,007,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $825,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

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.