StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Price Target Lowered to $58.00 at BMO Capital Markets

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $70.00 to $58.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 23.10% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upgraded StepStone Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of StepStone Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Evercore set a $73.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.57.

StepStone Group Stock Down 1.1%

StepStone Group stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.12. The stock had a trading volume of 352,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,285,252. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $57.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.68. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $77.79. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.80 and a beta of 1.39.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $241.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.92 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 31.44% and a negative net margin of 30.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 102.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 9th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $725,200.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,585,000 after buying an additional 51,125 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in StepStone Group by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 4th quarter worth about $136,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 114.6% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 14,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 7,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VARCOV Co. purchased a new stake in shares of StepStone Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $238,000. Institutional investors 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.