StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Given New $84.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $73.00 to $84.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 34.72% from the company’s current price.

STEP has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research cut shares of StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded StepStone Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on StepStone Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on StepStone Group in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.43.

StepStone Group Stock Performance

Shares of StepStone Group stock traded up $1.84 on Tuesday, hitting $62.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 125,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 615,076. StepStone Group has a 1 year low of $40.07 and a 1 year high of $70.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.25. The company has a market capitalization of $7.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.28 and a beta of 1.36.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). StepStone Group had a negative net margin of 17.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $237.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. StepStone Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 95.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at StepStone Group

In related news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $614,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,072,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction of $63,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,392,985.20. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $1,968,060. Corporate insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STEP. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in StepStone Group in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 38.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 332.2% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.