Evercore ISI Boosts StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target to $61.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from $56.00 to $61.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Evercore ISI's target price would indicate a potential upside of 2.06% from the company's current price.

STEP has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on StepStone Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays set a $62.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on 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 STEP traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $59.77. The stock had a trading volume of 400,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 624,719. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The firm has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a PE ratio of -25.01 and a beta of 1.36. The stock's 50 day moving average is $56.77 and its 200 day moving average is $56.28.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jason P. Ment sold 55,608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value 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 $2,073,550.05. This represents a 61.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 transaction of $11,968,480.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 491,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,455,593.44. This represents a 28.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 406,144 shares of company stock worth $24,154,401. Company insiders own 18.44% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in StepStone Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 609,619 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,285,000 after acquiring an additional 12,768 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $941,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,713 shares of the company's stock worth $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in StepStone Group by 444.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 969 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company's stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.