SG Americas Securities LLC Lowers Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

SG Americas Securities LLC trimmed its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 94.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,168 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 76,285 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Yelp were worth $197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 12,790.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,269,731 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $34,714,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,881 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,208,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yelp by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,257,853 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $281,675,000 after buying an additional 596,879 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Yelp by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,384,522 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $42,505,000 after buying an additional 579,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,496,166 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $103,789,000 after buying an additional 384,566 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total value of $268,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 248,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,141,676. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.40, for a total transaction of $119,350.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 194,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,460,092.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total value of $268,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 248,976 shares in the company, valued at $11,141,676. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $620,830. 7.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YELP has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Yelp in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $41.75.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP stock traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.61. 928,434 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 751,949. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.66. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.53 and a fifty-two week high of $48.99. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.08 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $342.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. Yelp's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.