Mendel Money Management Raises Stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Mendel Money Management lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,998 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 2,485 shares during the quarter. Mendel Money Management’s holdings in Yelp were worth $851,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 507,990 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $19,659,000 after acquiring an additional 236,400 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Yelp by 347.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 160,363 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $5,627,000 after purchasing an additional 124,561 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,279,000. Globeflex Capital L P boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 558.9% in the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 123,880 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $4,794,000 after buying an additional 105,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP grew its holdings in Yelp by 136.5% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 181,622 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $6,371,000 after acquiring an additional 104,839 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.34, for a total transaction of $36,340.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 223,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,122,426.08. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total value of $785,007.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares in the company, valued at $5,467,776.30. This represents a 12.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,081,667. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

YELP stock opened at $37.50 on Wednesday. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $32.56 and a one year high of $41.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.75.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The company had revenue of $361.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $350.73 million. Research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.17.

Yelp Profile

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.