Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Trims Position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. cut its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 512,261 shares of the local business review company's stock after selling 31,437 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.78% of Yelp worth $19,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YELP. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in Yelp by 1,963.6% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Yelp by 76.5% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Yelp by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.00.

Insider Activity

In other Yelp news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the company'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 sale, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $7,563,198.50. This represents a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total value of $348,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 242,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,453,476.80. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,025,717. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yelp Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:YELP traded down $0.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.16. The company had a trading volume of 793,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 734,137. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.29 and a 12 month high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current 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.