StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings 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 target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.64.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on STEP shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on StepStone Group from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

StepStone Group Stock Up 1.2 %

STEP opened at $60.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.75 and a 200-day moving average of $54.94. StepStone Group has a twelve month low of $30.46 and a twelve month high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a PE ratio of 100.44 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,108,653. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,986,165.16. The trade was a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. FMR LLC lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,310,000 after purchasing an additional 141,637 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in StepStone Group by 12.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after acquiring an additional 265,240 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in StepStone Group by 17.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,115,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,185,000 after buying an additional 225,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in StepStone Group by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 805,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,279,000 after buying an additional 85,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.