Evercore ISI Issues Pessimistic Forecast for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock Price

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP - Free Report) had its price objective cut by Evercore ISI from $71.00 to $63.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on STEP. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $67.79.

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of StepStone Group stock traded up $0.49 on Friday, hitting $61.57. 248,668 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 498,695. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $62.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.83. StepStone Group has a 52 week low of $31.49 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The company has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 102.62 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. StepStone Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.24, for a total transaction of $1,397,034.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,986,165.16. The trade was a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total transaction of $50,191.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at $148,578.30. This trade represents a 25.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,856 over the last ninety days. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 368.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,019 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,366,000 after purchasing an additional 88,095 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 749.8% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,001 shares of the company's stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 14,118 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new stake in StepStone Group in the second quarter valued at $5,254,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 17.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in StepStone Group by 43.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 417,845 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,746,000 after purchasing an additional 126,315 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.