StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Raised to $85.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective increased by Oppenheimer from $81.00 to $85.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on STEP. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on StepStone Group from $71.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.36.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $64.48 on Friday. StepStone Group has a 1-year low of $32.58 and a 1-year high of $70.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.48.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.01. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 11.53%. The business had revenue of $271.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -56.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total transaction of $257,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at $44,108,653. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,578.30. This represents a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,310,000 after buying an additional 141,637 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 265,240 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 805,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,279,000 after purchasing an additional 85,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $46,163,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

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.