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

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Evercore ISI from $56.00 to $61.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Evercore ISI's price target suggests a potential upside of 1.95% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer set a $67.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays set a $62.00 price objective on StepStone Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.43.

StepStone Group Price Performance

Shares of StepStone Group stock traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $59.84. The company had a trading volume of 279,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 626,377. The company's 50-day moving average is $56.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.28. The company has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.04 and a beta of 1.36. StepStone Group has a twelve month low of $40.07 and a twelve month high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $295.86 million for 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 66.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 27,697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,804,800. The trade was a 25.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider directly owned 34,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,550.05. The trade was a 61.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 406,144 shares of company stock worth $24,154,401. 18.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 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 increased 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 in the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its position in StepStone Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 22,017 shares of the company's stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Cim LLC now owns 32,066 shares of the company's stock worth $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 38.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. 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.