StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock Has Average Target Price of $69.00 According to Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate StepStone Group “Moderate Buy”, with seven buys, two holds and one sell among 10 analysts. The average 12-month price target is $69, versus the stock’s quoted price of $43.40.
• StepStone’s latest quarterly results fell slightly short of expectations, with earnings of $0.48 per share versus $0.50 expected and revenue of $300.6 million versus $309.32 million forecast.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.33 per share, equivalent to an annualized $1.32 payout and a 3.0% yield. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the stock.

Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on 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. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, August 7th.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP opened at $43.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.62 and a beta of 1.29. StepStone Group has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $77.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.79.

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

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This is a positive change from StepStone Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -17.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Junto Capital Management LP increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 26.1% during the 2nd quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 1,078,672 shares of the company's stock worth $44,614,000 after purchasing an additional 222,950 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 11.8% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 314,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,009,000 after purchasing an additional 33,210 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 45.0% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 42,796 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,770,000 after purchasing an additional 13,274 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 338.9% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 85,654 shares of the company's stock worth $3,543,000 after buying an additional 66,138 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 2.5% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,903 shares of the company's stock worth $823,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group, Inc is a global investment firm focused on private markets. The company provides investment solutions and advisory services designed to help institutional and private wealth clients build diversified portfolios of alternative investments.

Its platform spans private equity, venture capital, private debt, infrastructure and real estate. StepStone invests through primary commitments to funds, secondary-market transactions and direct or co-investments, and also offers customized portfolios and separately managed investment solutions.

StepStone serves pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies, family offices and private wealth investors across North America, Europe, Asia and other international markets.

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