Quent Capital LLC Invests $1.22 Million in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Key Points

• Quent Capital LLC established a new stake in Yelp by purchasing 40,200 shares worth about $1.22 million, representing roughly 0.07% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment has soured with several downgrades and price-target cuts, leaving Yelp with a MarketBeat average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $28.50.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently: the CFO sold 7,500 shares under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan and insiders sold 156,264 shares over the past 90 days, while insiders currently own about 8% of the stock.

Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 40,200 shares of the local business review company's stock, valued at approximately $1,222,000. Quent Capital LLC owned about 0.07% of Yelp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Yelp by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,298 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 35,838 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $1,118,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 19,871 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 110.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on YELP. Zacks Research downgraded Yelp from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price objective on Yelp in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $28.50.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,567,380. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Dan Jedda sold 1,464 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.02, for a total transaction of $30,773.28. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $359,442. This trade represents a 7.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 156,264 shares of company stock valued at $4,115,893. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yelp Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $28.75 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.82. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $41.22. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.47.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 9.94%.The firm had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $358.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

About Yelp

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company's flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.