StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) PT Raised to $46.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price target increased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $41.25 to $46.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of StepStone Group from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an outperform rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $38.50.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $45.44 on Tuesday. StepStone Group has a 12-month low of $23.24 and a 12-month high of $46.87. The company has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.49 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.61.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $177.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.47 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a Variable dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total transaction of $1,219,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,159 shares in the company, valued at $406,110.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other StepStone Group news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total transaction of $1,219,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,159 shares in the company, valued at $406,110.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David F. Hoffmeister purchased 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $44.29 per share, with a total value of $996,525.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 45,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,030,829.37. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STEP. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 72,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 43.1% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 166,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,267,000 after buying an additional 50,214 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 33.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 32,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after buying an additional 8,241 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 4.7% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 152,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,828,000 after buying an additional 6,898 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 9.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,367,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,084,000 after buying an additional 525,538 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.