Weiss Ratings Reaffirms “Sell (D+)” Rating for StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP)

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP)‘s stock had its “sell (d+)” rating restated by Weiss Ratings in a research report issued on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on STEP. Zacks Research downgraded shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of StepStone Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.83.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STEP opened at $63.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.54 and a beta of 1.37. StepStone Group has a one year low of $40.07 and a one year high of $70.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.52.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.99 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 16.07% and a negative net margin of 17.10%.StepStone Group’s revenue was up 95.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. This represents a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $614,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,072,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,324,660 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On StepStone Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in StepStone Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 35.5% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 38.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 332.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

StepStone Group Company Profile

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.