Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 60,559 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 271,590 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 60,559 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.41% of Yelp worth $9,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Yelp by 0.3% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 86,231 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $3,398,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Yelp by 24.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Yelp by 54.5% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,148 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Yelp by 262.8% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 664 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on YELP. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, September 16th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $38.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Yelp in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $232,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,371,246.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,080,985. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total value of $232,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at $9,371,246.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,776 shares of company stock worth $848,050 in the last ninety days. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yelp Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $33.65 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.05. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.56 and a twelve month high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The local business review company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $357.00 million for 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 company’s quarterly 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 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.