ProShare Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 23.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,270 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 3,197 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YELP. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Yelp by 3,970.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,074 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 17,630 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Yelp by 80.0% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 35,572 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,685,000 after acquiring an additional 15,809 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Yelp by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,497 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Yelp during the fourth quarter valued at about $504,000. Finally, CastleKnight Management LP grew its position in Yelp by 126.7% during the fourth quarter. CastleKnight Management LP now owns 68,925 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $3,263,000 after acquiring an additional 38,525 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $253,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 288,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,467,634.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $253,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 288,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,467,634.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,080,985. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,776 shares of company stock valued at $863,590. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on YELP. StockNews.com downgraded Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Yelp in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.20.

Yelp Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:YELP opened at $34.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.39 and a 200-day moving average of $36.71. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.56 and a 52 week high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The local business review company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $357.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.98 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 10.01%. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.65 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.