Voya Investment Management LLC Acquires 14,246 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Yelp Inc. by 9.4%, acquiring a total of 165,798 shares valued at approximately $6.14 million.
• Yelp reported $0.67 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.48, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 3.7%.
• Several institutional investors have modified their Yelp holdings this year, contributing to a total of 90.11% of Yelp’s stock owned by institutional investors.

Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 165,798 shares of the local business review company's stock after buying an additional 14,246 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.26% of Yelp worth $6,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YELP. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 122.8% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,318 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $70,443,000 after buying an additional 1,048,451 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Yelp during the first quarter valued at about $13,811,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 1,620.5% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 204,587 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $7,576,000 after purchasing an additional 192,696 shares during the period. Tenzing Global Management LLC acquired a new position in Yelp during the 1st quarter worth $6,480,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 157.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $48,495.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,766,348.78. This represents a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.17, for a total transaction of $37,404.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 203,700 shares in the company, valued at $6,349,329. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,700 shares of company stock valued at $1,161,299 in the last three months. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Stock Down 1.0%

YELP stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.81. The company had a trading volume of 2,281,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 758,607. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.75. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.96 and a 52-week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The local business review company reported $0.67 EPS 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 business had revenue of $370.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YELP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $34.00.

About Yelp

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.