StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Raised to $69.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective lifted by Evercore ISI from $63.00 to $69.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group raised their price target on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.21.

StepStone Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $59.83 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $61.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.90. StepStone Group has a 12-month low of $32.58 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The firm has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.40 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently -56.80%.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,108,653. The trade was a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STEP. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $633,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 399.3% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 9,616 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 291.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 190.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 22,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 3,873 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.