StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

07 Dec 2025, 08:16 by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets Daily

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP – Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded StepStone Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of StepStone Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. 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 report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of StepStone Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, StepStone Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.29.

Get Our Latest Analysis on STEP

StepStone Group Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:STEP opened at $62.85 on Friday. StepStone Group has a 12 month low of $40.07 and a 12 month high of $68.40. The company has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of -7.86 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.63.

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $282.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.15 million. StepStone Group had a positive return on equity of 21.53% and a negative net margin of 40.06%.The company’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Research analysts forecast that StepStone Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

StepStone Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of StepStone Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total transaction of $617,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,234,000. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David Y. Park sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 171,806 shares of company stock worth $10,680,214. Company insiders own 16.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StepStone Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STEP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of StepStone Group by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,721,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,289,000 after acquiring an additional 296,378 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in StepStone Group by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,038,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,400,000 after purchasing an additional 438,790 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in StepStone Group by 65.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,723,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,774,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,880 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in StepStone Group by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,138,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,317,000 after purchasing an additional 95,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in StepStone Group by 269.8% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,962,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,548 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.54% of the company’s stock.

About StepStone Group

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