Barclays Cuts StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target to $48.00

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $69.00 to $48.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on STEP. Oppenheimer upped their target price on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.21.

StepStone Group Trading Up 14.8 %

Shares of STEP opened at $48.74 on Monday. StepStone Group has a 12-month low of $34.64 and a 12-month high of $70.38. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.84 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $55.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.56.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. StepStone Group’s payout ratio is currently -56.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $614,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,757,300. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $33,894.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,318. The trade was a 27.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STEP. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in StepStone Group during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

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.