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

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Evercore ISI from $63.00 to $69.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.80% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on STEP. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on StepStone Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays raised their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $64.00 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

StepStone Group Trading Down 2.5 %

STEP traded down $1.64 during trading on Monday, reaching $62.84. 127,464 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 456,694. StepStone Group has a 52 week low of $32.58 and a 52 week high of $70.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.33 and a 200 day moving average of $58.73. The stock has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.16 and a beta of 1.31.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $271.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.51 million. StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 11.29% and a positive return on equity of 11.53%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In other news, insider Michael I. Mccabe sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total value of $257,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 686,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,108,653. This represents a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.85, for a total transaction of $50,191.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,578.30. The trade was a 25.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,820 shares of company stock worth $1,908,856. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group by 291.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.