Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $240,000 in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,191 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 82.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,767 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 60,697 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,349,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $39.16 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.29 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.19.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.48 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $49,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 107,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,554,984.12. This represents a 1.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $35,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,025,717 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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