OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Makes New Investment in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 5,988 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Yelp by 33.5% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 41.2% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 81,542 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 23,806 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 4.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 196,631 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $6,707,000 after purchasing an additional 8,007 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in Yelp by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 25,154 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 2,398 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its position in Yelp by 9.2% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 39,573 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 3,344 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on YELP. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.75.

Yelp Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of YELP stock opened at $39.29 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 1.49. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.53 and a 12-month high of $48.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.58.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The company had revenue of $342.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.83 million. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,516,994.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $613,213 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

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.