Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $9.33 Million Stock Position in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Yelp Inc. by 5.2% during the first quarter, resulting in a total ownership of approximately 251,209 shares valued at about $9.33 million.
• Yelp reported earnings of $0.67 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.48, with a revenue of $370.39 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds hold a significant 90.11% of Yelp's stock, indicating strong interest from larger financial entities in the company's performance.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 251,209 shares of the local business review company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,331 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.39% of Yelp worth $9,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Yelp by 307.4% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in Yelp during the 1st quarter valued at $52,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new stake in Yelp during the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on YELP shares. Bank of America cut their target price on Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $34.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP stock traded up $1.2370 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $32.4570. 1,160,451 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,021,783. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.96 and a twelve month high of $41.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.97. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $33.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.43.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.19. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 10.28%.The company had revenue of $370.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $365.71 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Carmen Amara sold 6,886 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $262,976.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 92,253 shares in the company, valued at $3,523,142.07. The trade was a 6.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 value 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. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,141 shares of company stock valued at $1,534,902. Insiders own 7.40% of the company's stock.

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.