StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $61.74 and last traded at $60.77, with a volume of 46129 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $60.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on STEP. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.69.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.3 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.33. The firm has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.15 and a beta of 1.28.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $186.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.15 million. StepStone Group’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that StepStone Group LP will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is presently 126.32%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of StepStone Group by 291.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in StepStone Group by 1,586.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 190.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $111,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the first quarter worth $149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

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.