Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 13,414 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 38.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,732 shares of the local business review company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,414 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Yelp worth $1,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Yelp by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake 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 during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,767 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 60,697 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $2,349,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two research 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 MarketBeat.com, Yelp has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In related news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,563,198.50. This trade represents a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total transaction of $343,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 239,112 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,203,932.72. This trade represents a 4.01% 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 $2,025,717 in the last three months. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Stock Performance

YELP traded down $0.62 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.98. 1,064,383 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 738,157. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.29 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.25. The company has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yelp 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.