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

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.36.

STEP has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $71.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at $9,986,165.16. This represents a 12.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total transaction of $50,191.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856 in the last three months. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Price Performance

NASDAQ STEP opened at $64.48 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $61.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.48. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $32.58 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.47 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $271.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -56.80%.

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.