Blue Trust Inc. Buys 3,300 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 113.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,221 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Yelp by 262.8% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 664 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Yelp in the second quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Yelp by 115.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 54.5% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,148 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,371,246.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $232,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,371,246.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 145,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,080,985. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,776 shares of company stock valued at $848,050 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on YELP. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com cut Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.33.

Yelp Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE YELP opened at $33.64 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.11. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.33. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.56 and a 12 month high of $48.99.

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

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.