Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 21.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 171,140 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,797 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.26% of Yelp worth $6,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Yelp by 262.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 664 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yelp during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 54.5% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,148 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 98.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $46.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $36.12 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $34.78 and a 200 day moving average of $35.52. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.63, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.33. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.56 and a 1 year high of $48.99.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, insider Carmen Amara sold 12,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.17, for a total transaction of $490,637.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 88,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,389,992.21. This trade represents a 12.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total transaction of $238,140.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 255,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,083.16. This represents a 2.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,598 shares of company stock worth $1,106,106 in the last three months. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.