Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 1,677,932 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has significantly reduced its stake in Yelp Inc. by 76% in the first quarter, now holding approximately 529,639 shares valued at $19.61 million.
• The stock has experienced fluctuations, with a current market price of $34.73 and a 52-week range between $32.28 and $41.72.
• Yelp reported $0.36 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimations and marking a 7.7% year-over-year revenue increase.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 76.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 529,639 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 1,677,932 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 0.81% of Yelp worth $19,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Yelp by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,030 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Yelp by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,767 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its stake in Yelp by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 60,697 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $2,349,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 47.3% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 622 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 57.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,725 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 631 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YELP. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of 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, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, insider Carmen Amara sold 6,886 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction of $262,976.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 92,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,523,142.07. This trade represents a 6.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $35,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 212,720 shares in the company, valued at $7,494,125.60. This trade represents a 0.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,345 shares of company stock worth $2,151,656 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company's stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of Yelp stock traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.03. 115,176 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 786,309. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.98. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $35.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.42. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.28 and a 52 week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.48 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 19.42%. Yelp's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share 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.