Yelp Inc. $YELP Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Yelp Inc. by 0.7%, resulting in ownership of approximately 13.71% of the company, valued at $330.19 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in Yelp, with Ameriprise Financial Inc. growing its stake by over 375% in the last quarter.
• Recent analyst ratings for Yelp indicate a negative outlook, with Bank of America and others downgrading their target prices and ratings for the stock.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,916,793 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 63,866 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 13.71% of Yelp worth $330,189,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 307.4% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 827 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth about $52,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 57.7% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,725 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 47.3% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP stock traded up $0.2050 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.2250. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,280,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 948,913. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $33.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.54. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.96 and a 1-year high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The local business review company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.19. Yelp had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The firm had revenue of $370.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $365.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YELP. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $34.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dan Jedda sold 2,794 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.68, for a total transaction of $99,689.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,363.52. The trade was a 13.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.68, for a total transaction of $346,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 199,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,924,000.72. This represents a 4.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,441 shares of company stock worth $1,658,981 over the last three months. Insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

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.