Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 629.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312,510 shares of the local business review company's stock after buying an additional 269,676 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.46% of Yelp worth $14,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YELP. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 4,634.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,250 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $134,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new position in Yelp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Stock Down 7.1 %

Shares of YELP traded down $2.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,997,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 653,062. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.24 and a fifty-two week high of $48.99. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 23.43 and a beta of 1.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $39.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.30.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The local business review company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.16. Yelp had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 15.63%. The firm had revenue of $332.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $333.66 million. Equities analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on YELP. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James began coverage on Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Yelp from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Craig Hallum lowered their price objective on Yelp from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,516,994.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 258,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,516,994.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 7.20% 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.