Quadrature Capital Ltd Lowers Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Quadrature Capital Ltd lowered its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 47.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,415 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 21,492 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Yelp were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YELP. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Yelp by 2,219.2% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 168,559 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $7,010,000 after acquiring an additional 161,291 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Yelp by 13.0% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 37,276 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,550,000 after acquiring an additional 4,274 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the third quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Pearl River Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the third quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the third quarter valued at approximately $976,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Yelp in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Craig Hallum cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.67.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 258,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,516,994.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $111,732.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,516,994.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 26,718 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.62, for a total transaction of $978,413.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 167,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,069.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,818 shares of company stock worth $2,088,623. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $35.65 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71 and a beta of 1.35. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.92 and a 1-year high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The local business review company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.16. Yelp had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The company had revenue of $332.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $333.66 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current 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.