Barclays Reiterates $62.00 Price Target for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP)

Barclays set a $62.00 price objective on StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on STEP. 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 report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price objective on StepStone Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.57.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of STEP traded down $1.14 on Tuesday, hitting $59.12. 823,005 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 684,601. StepStone Group has a one year low of $40.07 and a one year high of $70.38. The company has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of -34.98 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.76.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 12.04% and a negative net margin of 11.29%. The business had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -40.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $54,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,385,780. This represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,663,481.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 80,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,804,800. This represents a 25.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 87,308 shares of company stock worth $5,279,663 in the last three months. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STEP. Barclays PLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 368.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,019 shares of the company's stock worth $6,366,000 after purchasing an additional 88,095 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 166.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,602 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,079 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in StepStone Group by 64.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,032 shares of the company's stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $91,000. 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.