Yelp Inc. $YELP Shares Acquired by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Yelp Inc. by 48.8% during the first quarter, now holding 243,935 shares worth approximately $9 million.
• Insider Carmen Amara sold 6,886 shares of Yelp stock, representing a 6.95% decrease in ownership, while director Dan Jedda sold 2,794 shares, leading to a 13.08% decrease.
• Yelp reported a quarterly EPS of $0.67, exceeding analysts' expectations, and had a market capitalization of $1.98 billion with a current stock price of $30.95.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 48.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 243,935 shares of the local business review company's stock after purchasing an additional 79,973 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.38% of Yelp worth $9,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Yelp by 375.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,051,588 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Yelp by 122.8% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,318 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $70,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,451 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Yelp in the first quarter worth about $13,811,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Yelp by 1,620.5% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 204,587 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $7,576,000 after acquiring an additional 192,696 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Yelp by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,457 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $74,477,000 after acquiring an additional 164,149 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Carmen Amara sold 6,886 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $262,976.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 92,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,523,142.07. This represents a 6.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 12,904 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total transaction of $492,674.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 145,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,538,543.52. This trade represents a 8.17% 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 quarter. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Yelp stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $30.99. The company had a trading volume of 390,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 814,121. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.73. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.96 and a 12-month high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The local business review company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.19. Yelp had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company had revenue of $370.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. Yelp's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current 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.