Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Shares Sold by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE cut its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 225,353 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 47,819 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.34% of Yelp worth $8,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of YELP. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 375.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,331,835 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $51,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,588 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Yelp by 163.4% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 853,867 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $33,045,000 after buying an additional 529,667 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Yelp by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $71,424,000 after buying an additional 255,775 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 601,632 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $23,283,000 after acquiring an additional 249,231 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 4th quarter worth about $7,455,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.11. 127,267 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 735,039. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $36.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.34. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.29 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yelp news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.34, for a total transaction of $36,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 223,512 shares in the company, valued at $8,122,426.08. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 2,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.63, for a total transaction of $86,549.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 99,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,730,600.57. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 57,828 shares of company stock valued at $2,118,690. Insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Yelp Company Profile

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.