Brokerages Set StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target at $40.19

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.19.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on STEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $41.25 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were 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 approximately $406,110.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David F. Hoffmeister bought 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $44.29 per share, with a total value of $996,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 45,853 shares in the company, valued at $2,030,829.37. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 19.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in StepStone Group by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,994,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,635,000 after purchasing an additional 627,059 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,270,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,749,000 after purchasing an additional 90,974 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,948,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,860 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,115,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,185,000 after buying an additional 225,201 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in StepStone Group by 150.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 850,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,396,000 after buying an additional 510,283 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $49.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $44.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.34. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $25.06 and a 52-week high of $50.26. The company has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a PE ratio of 54.99 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $177.36 million for 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 last year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a Variable dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid 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 presently 93.33%.

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.