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

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 854,900 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 200,626 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $33,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Yelp by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,457 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $74,477,000 after buying an additional 164,149 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $71,424,000 after acquiring an additional 255,775 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,774,878 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $68,702,000 after acquiring an additional 15,649 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 375.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,331,835 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $51,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Yelp by 163.4% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 853,867 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $33,045,000 after purchasing an additional 529,667 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $38.80 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.29 and a 1 year high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.48 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on YELP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Insider Activity

In other Yelp news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $35,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,563,198.50. The trade was a 0.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $49,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 107,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,554,984.12. This trade represents a 1.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,025,717. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

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.