StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $46.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. StepStone Group traded as high as $47.24 and last traded at $46.57, with a volume of 22018 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $45.78.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on StepStone Group from $41.25 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on StepStone Group from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Oppenheimer started coverage on StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David F. Hoffmeister purchased 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $44.29 per share, for a total transaction of $996,525.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 45,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,030,829.37. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director David F. Hoffmeister bought 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $44.29 per share, with a total value of $996,525.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,853 shares in the company, valued at $2,030,829.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Steven R. Mitchell sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.34, for a total value of $1,219,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $406,110.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American International Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $970,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 722 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 963 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 288,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,309,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 24,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 1,818 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.12. The company has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.68 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $177.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.47 million. StepStone Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. Research analysts forecast that StepStone Group LP will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a Variable dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a yield of 1.9%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.33%.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group LP. is an investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, private equity and buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.