Summit Global Investments Makes New Investment in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 37,980 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,185,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Yelp by 268.1% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,811,000 after buying an additional 548,586 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Yelp by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 295,562 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $10,148,000 after purchasing an additional 44,353 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 105,000 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $3,276,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 4.2% in the second 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. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Yelp by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 683,935 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $23,438,000 after acquiring an additional 128,138 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on YELP shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.29.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $27.34 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.96 and a 52-week high of $41.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.17. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.39 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.Yelp’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Friday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.69, for a total transaction of $46,035.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 74,378 shares in the company, valued at $2,282,660.82. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 164,906 shares of company stock worth $4,729,140. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.