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

Key Points

• Vanguard trimmed its Yelp stake by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 166,274 shares and still holding 8.24 million shares valued at about $250.3 million. Institutional ownership remains high at roughly 90.11%.
• Yelp beat first-quarter expectations, reporting $0.30 EPS on $361.46 million in revenue versus estimates of $0.26 EPS and $353.47 million in revenue. The beat was aided by stronger other revenue and broader use of its Assistant tools.
• Analysts remain cautious despite the results: JPMorgan raised its price target to $26 from $22 but kept a neutral rating, while the consensus view on the stock is currently “Reduce.”

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,236,074 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 166,274 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 13.39% of Yelp worth $250,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yelp during the third quarter valued at about $2,207,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Yelp by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 925,898 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $28,888,000 after purchasing an additional 241,963 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Yelp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,348,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 858.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,476 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 39,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Yelp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,185,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Yelp News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Yelp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Yelp beat Q1 expectations, reporting $0.30 EPS versus $0.26 expected and $361.46 million in revenue versus $353.47 million estimated, helped by stronger other revenue and broader adoption of its Assistant tools. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Yelp said it is advancing its AI transformation, which may support future product improvements and monetization if adoption continues. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Yelp to $26 from $22 but kept a neutral rating, suggesting the stock may still have limited upside from current levels. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s Q1 earnings call transcript and related coverage indicate investors are focusing on whether revenue growth can outpace expense pressure in coming quarters. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the earnings beat, Q1 EPS declined from a year ago and costs rose, which may be pressuring sentiment around profitability. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Yelp’s FY2026 revenue guidance appears roughly in line with consensus, but the lack of a clearly stronger outlook may be limiting enthusiasm for the stock. Article Title

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 209,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,567,380. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total value of $29,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 267,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,881.20. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,864 shares of company stock worth $723,573. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YELP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research downgraded Yelp from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $29.38.

Yelp Stock Down 5.1%

YELP stock opened at $27.04 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.59. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.60 and a fifty-two week high of $41.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 9.47%.The firm had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Yelp Company Profile

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.