Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Stake in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its Yelp stake by 20.5% in the first quarter, purchasing 457,261 additional shares to own 2.68 million shares, or 4.51% of the company.
• Institutional investors own 90.11% of Yelp, while director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares for approximately $355,886 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Yelp beat first-quarter earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $0.30 in EPS and $361.46 million in revenue, but analysts remain cautious with an average “Reduce” rating and a $27.88 price target.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 20.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,683,927 shares of the local business review company's stock after purchasing an additional 457,261 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 4.51% of Yelp worth $66,402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headwater Capital Co Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,558,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Yelp by 858.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,476 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 39,838 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in Yelp by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 251,569 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $7,633,000 after buying an additional 39,585 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $81,513,000 after purchasing an additional 279,300 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 56.7% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 653,818 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $19,870,000 after acquiring an additional 236,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other Yelp news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on YELP shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research raised Yelp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $27.88.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $26.48 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $24.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.60 and a 52-week high of $35.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The company's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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