Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Shares Sold by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 854,900 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 200,626 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 1.30% of Yelp worth $33,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Yelp by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 752,742 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $29,131,000 after purchasing an additional 57,610 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 347.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 160,363 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $5,627,000 after purchasing an additional 124,561 shares in the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yelp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,197,000. Suncoast Equity Management acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at $721,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 366,297 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $14,176,000 after acquiring an additional 10,995 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total transaction of $785,007.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,467,776.30. The trade was a 12.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $35,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,563,198.50. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,025,717. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on YELP shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Yelp Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:YELP traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.34. The stock had a trading volume of 228,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 780,424. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.14. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.28 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.48 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share 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.