Moran Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 138,648 Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 138,648 shares of the local business review company's stock, valued at approximately $5,134,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC owned about 0.21% of Yelp as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Yelp by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,457 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $74,477,000 after purchasing an additional 164,149 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Yelp by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $71,424,000 after buying an additional 255,775 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Yelp by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,774,878 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $68,702,000 after buying an additional 15,649 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 375.2% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,331,835 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $51,542,000 after buying an additional 1,051,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 163.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 529,667 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YELP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total transaction of $34,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 222,512 shares in the company, valued at $7,665,538.40. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 2,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.63, for a total transaction of $86,549.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 99,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,730,600.57. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,345 shares of company stock worth $2,147,176 in the last ninety days. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yelp Stock Down 1.9%

YELP stock opened at $33.70 on Thursday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $36.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.02. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.29 and a 12 month high of $41.72.

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 9.95% and a return on equity of 19.42%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current 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.

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