StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Now Covered by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of StepStone Group from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on StepStone Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.44.

StepStone Group Trading Up 1.3%

StepStone Group stock opened at $45.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.86 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $77.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $47.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.77.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 43.38% and a negative net margin of 30.53%.The company had revenue of $300.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.32 million. On average, equities analysts predict that StepStone Group will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

StepStone Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from StepStone Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -17.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,456,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,951,000 after purchasing an additional 561,176 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in StepStone Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,752,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in StepStone Group by 1,314.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 402,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,195,000 after buying an additional 373,807 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP grew its stake in StepStone Group by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 1,078,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,614,000 after acquiring an additional 222,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of StepStone Group by 95.6% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 332,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,859,000 after acquiring an additional 162,467 shares during the period. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group, Inc is a global investment firm focused on private markets. The company provides investment solutions and advisory services designed to help institutional and private wealth clients build diversified portfolios of alternative investments.

Its platform spans private equity, venture capital, private debt, infrastructure and real estate. StepStone invests through primary commitments to funds, secondary-market transactions and direct or co-investments, and also offers customized portfolios and separately managed investment solutions.

StepStone serves pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies, family offices and private wealth investors across North America, Europe, Asia and other international markets.