Ethic Inc. Acquires New Stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Ethic Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13,573 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 4th quarter worth $276,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 507,990 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $19,659,000 after purchasing an additional 236,400 shares in the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 4th quarter worth $4,279,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total transaction of $343,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 239,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,203,932.72. This represents a 4.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,025,717. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Down 3.3%

Yelp stock opened at $39.59 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.29 and a 52 week high of $41.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.48 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.