Leuthold Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Leuthold Group LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,018 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 681 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC owned 0.11% of Yelp worth $2,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YELP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Yelp by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,994,129 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $94,402,000 after acquiring an additional 13,790 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yelp by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,088 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Yelp during the fourth quarter valued at about $20,718,000. Trexquant Investment LP grew its position in shares of Yelp by 133.9% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 120,210 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $5,691,000 after buying an additional 68,827 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yelp during the fourth quarter worth $696,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Yelp Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $34.14 on Thursday. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.56 and a 52 week high of $48.99. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $34.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.75 and a beta of 1.33.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Yelp had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $357.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $352.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total value of $232,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 281,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,371,246.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $232,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at $9,371,246.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,776 shares of company stock valued at $863,590. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

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.