Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 162,050 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Key Points

• Cygnus Capital Advisors significantly increased its Yelp stake by purchasing 162,050 shares in the second quarter, bringing its total holdings to 167,050 shares valued at approximately $4.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 90.11% of Yelp.
• Yelp’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $0.57 versus the $0.36 consensus estimate and revenue of $375.52 million, up 1.4% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: Yelp has a consensus “Reduce” rating and a $27.57 price target, while the stock recently opened at $21.58. Insiders sold 13,138 shares worth about $304,949 during the latest quarter, primarily under pre-arranged plans to cover tax obligations.

Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 3,241.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 167,050 shares of the local business review company's stock after purchasing an additional 162,050 shares during the period. Yelp makes up about 2.8% of Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.31% of Yelp worth $4,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in Yelp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Yelp by 1,679.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,407,914 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $34,522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328,772 shares during the period. Odyssean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the second quarter worth $3,156,000. Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the second quarter worth $128,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the second quarter worth $61,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on YELP. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, August 7th. Evercore set a $30.00 price target on Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $27.57.

Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock opened at $21.58 on Tuesday. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.60 and a fifty-two week high of $34.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.43. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $24.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.50.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The company had revenue of $375.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $366.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, CFO David Schwarzbach sold 8,809 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.19, for a total transaction of $204,280.71. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 180,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,185,006.54. This represents a 4.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CTO Alexander Coleman Levy sold 3,829 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total value of $89,598.60. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 54,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,266,501.60. This represents a 6.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 13,138 shares of company stock valued at $304,949 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company's stock.

About Yelp

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company's flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.

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