Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd Boosts Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 107,600 shares of the local business review company's stock after buying an additional 8,800 shares during the period. Yelp accounts for 1.5% of Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd owned approximately 0.16% of Yelp worth $4,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Yelp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Yelp by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 650,433 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $25,172,000 after buying an additional 9,810 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Yelp by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 48,732 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $1,885,000 after acquiring an additional 13,414 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yelp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. bought a new stake in Yelp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $525,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total value of $785,007.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares in the company, valued at $5,467,776.30. This trade represents a 12.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $35,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 211,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,563,198.50. This represents a 0.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,025,717. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Trading Down 1.0%

YELP traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.75. 285,655 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 732,944. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.29 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.80 and a 200 day moving average of $37.21.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YELP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.