The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Positive Forecast for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock Price

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $64.00 to $70.50 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of STEP stock opened at $67.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.75 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $25.06 and a fifty-two week high of $70.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $60.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.50.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total value of $50,191.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at $148,578.30. This trade represents a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,381,320.71. This represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 442.7% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring 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.