StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.64.

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

StepStone Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of STEP opened at $57.29 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.57. StepStone Group has a twelve month low of $31.15 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.48 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 160.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total value of $204,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,381,320.71. The trade was a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total value of $1,397,034.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856 in the last three months. 18.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 190.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in StepStone Group by 442.7% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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