Blue Trust Inc. Sells 2,861 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,360 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 2,861 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Avion Wealth grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 1,963.6% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Yelp by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YELP. StockNews.com upgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.99, for a total transaction of $37,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 183,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,973,368.42. The trade was a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.72, for a total transaction of $397,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,022,963.36. This represents a 4.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,267 shares of company stock worth $1,299,802 over the last ninety days. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Trading Down 2.4 %

YELP opened at $35.70 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.20 and a 200 day moving average of $36.59. The company has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The company had revenue of $361.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $350.73 million. Research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 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.