Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Shares Acquired by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,083 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 54.5% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,148 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 115.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 976 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Yelp by 98.5% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Yelp by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management raised its position in shares of Yelp by 9.4% in the third quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 14,573 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total value of $38,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 182,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,010,227.20. This represents a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.12, for a total transaction of $377,329.28. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sold 56,865 shares of company stock worth $2,167,768 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of YELP opened at $39.57 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.56 and a fifty-two week high of $45.91. The company has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.43.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $360.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.74 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 16.02% and a net margin of 8.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Yelp Company 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.