Brokerages Set StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Target Price at $71.25

StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $70.5556.

STEP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Friday, August 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 670,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,006,000 after buying an additional 46,273 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in StepStone Group in the first quarter valued at $3,898,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,585,000 after acquiring an additional 51,125 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,456,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,951,000 after purchasing an additional 561,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advent International L.P. purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the first quarter worth about $5,733,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Trading Down 0.9%

STEP opened at $48.92 on Friday. StepStone Group has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $77.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.72. The firm has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.34 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 30.53% and a positive return on equity of 43.38%. The firm had revenue of $300.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.32 million. On average, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This is a positive change from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is presently -17.10%.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group, Inc is a global investment firm focused on the private markets. The company designs and manages investment programs for institutional investors, family offices, private wealth clients and other organizations seeking access to private-market opportunities.

Its activities include investing in and managing portfolios of private equity, venture capital, private debt, real estate and infrastructure investments. StepStone provides customized portfolios, primary fund investments, secondary-market transactions, co-investments and advisory services across these asset classes.

Founded in 2013, StepStone serves clients through a global network of offices and investment professionals.