Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 43,611 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 18.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 189,959 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 43,611 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Yelp were worth $5,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,359,112 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $80,827,000 after purchasing an additional 95,933 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Yelp by 10.1% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,093,765 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $71,753,000 after buying an additional 191,447 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Yelp by 7.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,501,764 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $51,458,000 after buying an additional 98,303 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Yelp by 268.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,811,000 after acquiring an additional 548,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc boosted its position in Yelp by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 741,747 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,420,000 after acquiring an additional 242,213 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $943,050. This represents a 32.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $36,516.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 192,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,844,963.97. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 164,906 shares of company stock valued at $4,729,140. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP stock opened at $27.50 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.96 and a fifty-two week high of $41.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.39 million. Yelp had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 20.33%. Yelp’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on YELP shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Yelp Profile

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.