Evercore ISI Issues Positive Forecast for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock Price

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $56.00 to $61.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Evercore ISI's price objective suggests a potential upside of 2.06% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on STEP. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on 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. Barclays set a $62.00 target price on StepStone Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 target price on StepStone Group and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.43.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ STEP traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $59.77. 400,660 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 624,962. The stock has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.01 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.22. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $295.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 66.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,663,481.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,804,800. The trade was a 25.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 199,741 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.92, for a total value of $11,968,480.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 491,582 shares in the company, valued at $29,455,593.44. This trade represents a 28.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 406,144 shares of company stock worth $24,154,401 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 269.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company's stock worth $154,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,548 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in StepStone Group by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,599,875 shares of the company's stock worth $324,122,000 after purchasing an additional 895,521 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,163,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,340,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in StepStone Group by 353.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 661,799 shares of the company's stock worth $38,305,000 after purchasing an additional 515,760 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company's stock.

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.