Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,083 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Yelp by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in Yelp by 9.4% during the third quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 14,573 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,744 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.12, for a total transaction of $377,329.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 122,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,301,497.60. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 12,854 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.17, for a total value of $490,637.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 88,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,389,992.21. The trade was a 12.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,865 shares of company stock worth $2,167,768 in the last 90 days. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $39.57 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.56 and a 1 year high of $45.91. The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.43.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The local business review company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $360.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $360.74 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 16.02% and a net margin of 8.48%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YELP shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.17.

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.