ProShare Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,517 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 7,901 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Yelp were worth $755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 82.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 1,963.6% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Yelp by 16.9% in 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 buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Yelp by 445.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,683 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YELP. 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 report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total value of $343,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 239,112 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,203,932.72. This represents a 4.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $49,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 107,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,554,984.12. This represents a 1.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 57,828 shares of company stock valued at $2,118,690. Insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Yelp Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of YELP stock traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.13. 75,320 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 735,147. The stock has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.29 and a fifty-two week high of $41.72. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.35.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.48 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yelp Company 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.