StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Upgraded to Buy at The Goldman Sachs Group

Key Points

• The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded StepStone Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating, setting a target price of $83.00, which indicates a potential upside of 28.83%.
• StepStone Group reported a quarterly EPS of $0.40, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42, despite a significant 95.4% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.
• Insider activity saw CEO Scott W. Hart and CFO David Y. Park sell a combined 11,000 shares of the company's stock recently, indicating a 16.67% and 4.34% decrease in their ownership, respectively.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $83.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $64.00. The Goldman Sachs Group's target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.07% from the company's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $84.00 price target (up from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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, Barclays lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.86.

StepStone Group Price Performance

StepStone Group stock traded up $2.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $66.90. 1,061,010 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 625,272. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $60.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.72 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $40.07 and a 52-week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at StepStone Group

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $614,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at $1,392,985.20. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $1,893,360 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the first quarter valued at $35,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the second quarter valued at $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in StepStone Group by 332.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,236 shares of the company's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.