StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Cut to $50.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its target price lowered by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $62.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.39% from the stock’s previous close.

STEP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings downgraded StepStone Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.12.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP opened at $42.96 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.32 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $47.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.71. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $77.79.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $305.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.11 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 26.88% and a positive return on equity of 37.69%. StepStone Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other StepStone Group news, COO Jose A. Fernandez sold 2,290 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $97,645.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael I. Mccabe acquired 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $41.85 per share, with a total value of $5,022,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 433,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,128,499.30. This trade represents a 38.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 16.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STEP. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in StepStone Group by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 670,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,006,000 after buying an additional 46,273 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 176.5% in the third quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 381,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,913,000 after acquiring an additional 243,495 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,585,000 after acquiring an additional 51,125 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,456,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,951,000 after acquiring an additional 561,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,776,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,028,000 after acquiring an additional 52,713 shares in the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm that provides specialized investment solutions across private equity, private credit and real assets. The firm offers customized portfolios, secondary interests, direct co-investments and tailored advisory services to institutional investors worldwide. StepStone’s integrated research and data analytics platform supports its investment teams in sourcing opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies.

Founded in 2007 as an independent private markets specialist, the company has grown its presence through both organic expansion and strategic partnerships.