Yelp Inc. $YELP Shares Sold by Meeder Asset Management Inc.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 76.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,974 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 54,222 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in YELP. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 100.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Yelp by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Yelp by 181.3% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Yelp during the 1st quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YELP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore set a $30.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.88.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $25.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.60 and a 1 year high of $35.39.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481 over the last quarter. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yelp Company 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.