Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 65,955 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 7,417 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $3,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yelp by 4,634.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Yelp by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,250 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Yelp in the third quarter worth approximately $134,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock opened at $39.99 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.62 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.41. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.53 and a 12 month high of $48.99.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $111,732.50. Following 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. 7.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James started coverage on Yelp in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.75.

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.