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

Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.64.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays reduced their target price on StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STEP opened at $57.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.57. The stock has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.48 and a beta of 1.31. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $31.15 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,909 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $257,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,108,653. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.7% during 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 during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,451,000 after buying an additional 265,240 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,856,000 after buying an additional 216,029 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 800,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,753,000 after buying an additional 60,339 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.