Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 1,402 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,623 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,402 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of YELP. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Yelp by 1,089.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 188,371 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $6,960,000 after acquiring an additional 172,531 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yelp during the second quarter worth $499,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 17,581 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 115.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 976 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 87.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,568 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on YELP shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.17.

Yelp Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE YELP opened at $39.96 on Monday. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.56 and a 52 week high of $45.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.34.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The local business review company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $360.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.74 million. Yelp had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 16.02%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In related news, insider Carmen Amara sold 12,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.17, for a total value of $490,637.18. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 88,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,389,992.21. This trade represents a 12.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.12, for a total transaction of $377,329.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 122,480 shares in the company, valued at $4,301,497.60. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,865 shares of company stock valued at $2,167,768 in the last three months. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Yelp

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.