StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Raised to $81.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by Oppenheimer from $74.00 to $81.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Oppenheimer's target price would indicate a potential upside of 28.08% from the company's current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays set a $62.00 price target on StepStone Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.43.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP traded up $3.60 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $63.24. 1,443,756 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 626,070. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $57.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.46 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.87 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 15.21% and a negative net margin of 15.28%. StepStone Group's quarterly revenue was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total transaction of $1,663,481.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 80,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,804,800. This trade represents a 25.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 416,144 shares of company stock worth $24,757,301 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amundi grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 1.1% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 22,017 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Cim LLC grew its position in shares of StepStone Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Cim LLC now owns 32,066 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,675,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.