StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Earns Outperform Rating from Oppenheimer

Key Points

• Oppenheimer raised its price target for StepStone Group from $81.00 to $84.00, indicating a potential upside of 41.71% from the previous close.
• StepStone Group reported $0.40 EPS for the latest quarter, missing analyst estimates by $0.02, but showed a significant revenue increase of 95.4% compared to the same period last year.
• Insider activity included CEO Scott W. Hart selling 10,000 shares at an average price of $61.28, resulting in a 14.29% decrease in his ownership stake.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by research analysts at Oppenheimer in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $84.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $81.00. Oppenheimer's target price would indicate a potential upside of 37.05% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on STEP. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.00.

StepStone Group Stock Up 4.7%

STEP traded up $2.76 during trading on Monday, reaching $61.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 536,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 610,125. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.15. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The company has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.90 and a beta of 1.37.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%. The business had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.99 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $3,375,961.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. The trade was a 61.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.28, for a total transaction of $612,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 60,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,676,800. This trade represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 426,144 shares of company stock valued at $25,370,101. Insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the first quarter worth about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in StepStone Group by 38.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. CWM LLC grew its position in StepStone Group by 14.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in StepStone Group by 943.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 1,670 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.