StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.21.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded StepStone Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock.

StepStone Group Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $36.06. The stock had a trading volume of 291,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,570. The company has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.07 and a beta of 1.25. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $19.83 and a 1 year high of $38.25. The business's 50 day moving average price is $34.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of ($14.61) million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $142.29 million. Analysts predict that StepStone Group will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. StepStone Group's payout ratio is 93.33%.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, major shareholder James Lim sold 9,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.06, for a total value of $315,820.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,388,746 shares in the company, valued at $223,989,434.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder James Lim sold 9,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.06, for a total value of $315,820.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,388,746 shares in the company, valued at $223,989,434.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas Keck sold 3,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.47, for a total value of $131,026.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 200,750 shares in the company, valued at $7,120,602.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 91,514 shares of company stock worth $3,233,084. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in StepStone Group by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,192 shares of the company's stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. boosted its position in StepStone Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 25,732 shares of the company's stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its position in StepStone Group by 67.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,170 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in StepStone Group by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in StepStone Group by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

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.