Trexquant Investment LP Has $6.16 Million Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 609.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,157 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 136,724 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.24% of Yelp worth $6,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 78,585 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 347.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 160,363 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $5,627,000 after purchasing an additional 124,561 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at $1,197,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Yelp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 366,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $14,176,000 after purchasing an additional 10,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Suncoast Equity Management bought a new position in shares of Yelp during the 4th quarter worth about $721,000. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yelp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total value of $38,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 182,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,010,227.20. This represents a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.51, for a total transaction of $395,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 191,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,585,445.88. This represents a 4.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,081,667 over the last three months. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Stock Down 3.9 %

NYSE YELP opened at $35.63 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.56 and a twelve month high of $41.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.92.

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