Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Stock

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from $73.00 to $84.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 35.59% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Evercore ISI increased their price target on StepStone Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Four investment 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.64.

StepStone Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STEP opened at $61.95 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.25 and a beta of 1.27. StepStone Group has a 52-week low of $28.35 and a 52-week high of $70.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.11.

Insider Activity at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 686,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,108,653. This trade represents a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 22,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $9,986,165.16. This trade represents a 12.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856. 18.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,401,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after buying an additional 265,240 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in StepStone Group by 991.1% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,378,000 after acquiring an additional 264,811 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 225,201 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 17.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,457,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 216,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,999,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,310,000 after purchasing an additional 141,637 shares during the period. 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.