Meritage Portfolio Management Buys 1,812 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Meritage Portfolio Management raised its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,385 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Yelp were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 1,089.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 188,371 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $6,960,000 after purchasing an additional 172,531 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yelp in the second quarter valued at $499,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Yelp by 28.5% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 17,581 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 115.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 976 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in Yelp by 87.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,568 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,665 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Yelp Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of YELP stock opened at $39.87 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.39. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.56 and a 12 month high of $45.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, insider Carmen Amara sold 12,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.17, for a total value of $490,637.18. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 88,813 shares in the company, valued at $3,389,992.21. This trade represents a 12.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.29, for a total value of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 211,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,117,020.52. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,865 shares of company stock valued at $2,167,768. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.