Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $66.00 to $69.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $71.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.36.

StepStone Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:STEP opened at $64.48 on Friday. StepStone Group has a one year low of $32.58 and a one year high of $70.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.48.

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

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total transaction of $257,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 686,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,108,653. This trade represents a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% in 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 period. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.