StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock Rated Overweight in New Coverage at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of StepStone Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, StepStone Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.44.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $45.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19. StepStone Group has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $77.79. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.86 and a beta of 1.29.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 30.53% and a positive return on equity of 43.38%. The company had revenue of $300.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.32 million. Analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. This is a positive change from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is -17.10%.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Essential Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 17,350.0% during the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new position in StepStone Group in the second quarter worth about $119,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in StepStone Group by 8.8% in the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 1,854 shares during the period. Finally, Bull Harbor Capital LLC purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the first quarter worth about $468,000. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group, Inc is a global investment firm focused on private markets. The company provides investment solutions and advisory services designed to help institutional and private wealth clients build diversified portfolios of alternative investments.

Its platform spans private equity, venture capital, private debt, infrastructure and real estate. StepStone invests through primary commitments to funds, secondary-market transactions and direct or co-investments, and also offers customized portfolios and separately managed investment solutions.

StepStone serves pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies, family offices and private wealth investors across North America, Europe, Asia and other international markets.