StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at BMO Capital Markets

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) was upgraded by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $64.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $84.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.71.

StepStone Group Price Performance

StepStone Group stock opened at $66.96 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of -21.74 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $61.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.11. StepStone Group has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $70.38.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The firm had revenue of $237.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other StepStone Group news, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $647,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,588,000. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,540,360 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in StepStone Group in the second quarter worth about $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in StepStone Group by 38.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in StepStone Group by 14.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in StepStone Group by 943.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently 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.