Ethic Inc. Invests $525,000 in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Ethic Inc. bought a new position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,573 shares of the local business review company's stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Yelp by 82.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Avion Wealth boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 1,963.6% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Yelp by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 16.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 445.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total value of $785,007.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,467,776.30. This represents a 12.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $35,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,563,198.50. This represents a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,025,717. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Yelp Stock Up 0.2%

YELP traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $38.69. 301,406 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 784,138. The company's 50-day moving average is $35.96 and its 200 day moving average is $37.25. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.28 and a 52 week high of $41.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on YELP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.00.

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.