StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of StepStone Group Inc. (NASDAQ:STEP) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.75.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on StepStone Group from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered StepStone Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on StepStone Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th.

StepStone Group Price Performance

STEP opened at $55.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a PE ratio of -8.03 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.74. StepStone Group has a fifty-two week low of $40.58 and a fifty-two week high of $77.79.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $241.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.92 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 31.44% and a negative net margin of 30.66%.The company’s revenue was up 102.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 9th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of StepStone Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STEP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 72.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 3,843 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 6.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 908 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 6.0% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,068,000 after buying an additional 2,238 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 21.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 357,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,661,000 after buying an additional 63,519 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the first quarter worth $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.