StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $61.71.

A number of brokerages have commented on STEP. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

StepStone Group Trading Up 10.6 %

Shares of StepStone Group stock opened at $66.10 on Thursday. StepStone Group has a 12 month low of $25.06 and a 12 month high of $66.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $57.47 and a 200 day moving average of $48.99. The firm has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 86.97 and a beta of 1.27.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $186.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.15 million. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STEP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in StepStone Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,270,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,749,000 after buying an additional 90,974 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 25.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,115,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,185,000 after acquiring an additional 225,201 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 150.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 850,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,396,000 after purchasing an additional 510,283 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in StepStone Group by 8.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 800,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,753,000 after purchasing an additional 60,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in StepStone Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 608,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,760,000 after purchasing an additional 6,052 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.