Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $9.97 Million Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 257,649 shares of the local business review company's stock after purchasing an additional 47,087 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.39% of Yelp worth $9,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of YELP. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Yelp by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 82.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Yelp by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yelp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 124,016 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $4,799,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Up 0.4 %

YELP traded up $0.14 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $34.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 66,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,370. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.08. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $35.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.91. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.56 and a 12 month high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $361.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $350.73 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.17.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total transaction of $785,007.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 153,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,467,776.30. The trade was a 12.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $49,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 107,207 shares in the company, valued at $3,554,984.12. This represents a 1.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,029,667 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company's stock.

About Yelp

Yelp Inc operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services.