Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Invests $1.17 Million in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC acquired a new position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 38,525 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,171,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 358,902 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $10,907,000 after purchasing an additional 18,676 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 884,522 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $26,881,000 after purchasing an additional 36,528 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 62,733 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,906,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 181.3% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $81,513,000 after purchasing an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Down 1.6%

Yelp stock opened at $23.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.47. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.60 and a 52 week high of $37.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $25.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.Yelp’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,567,380. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total value of $29,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 267,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,881.20. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,700 shares of company stock worth $677,839. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research raised Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Evercore set a $30.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

About Yelp

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company’s flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.