StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives $36.64 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.64.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on STEP shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company 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 company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ STEP opened at $45.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.99 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.12. StepStone Group has a one year low of $23.24 and a one year high of $46.82.

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

StepStone Group Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total value of $1,219,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,110.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other StepStone Group news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total value of $1,219,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,159 shares in the company, valued at $406,110.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David F. Hoffmeister acquired 22,500 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $44.29 per share, with a total value of $996,525.00. Following the purchase, 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. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in StepStone Group by 150.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 850,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,396,000 after acquiring an additional 510,283 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 288,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the first quarter valued at $243,000. American International Group Inc. lifted its position in StepStone Group by 1.2% during the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 18,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 2,950 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.