StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Raised to $65.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on STEP. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.43.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP stock opened at $65.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.34 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.59. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $25.06 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is 160.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $204,630.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,381,320.71. This represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STEP. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 442.7% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 190.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the period. 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.