New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 300 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 45,381 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Yelp were worth $2,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Yelp by 6.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,253,025 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $313,770,000 after acquiring an additional 577,514 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Yelp by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,642,699 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $89,614,000 after acquiring an additional 123,355 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Yelp by 18.2% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,496,166 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $103,789,000 after acquiring an additional 384,566 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Yelp by 5.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,066,180 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $63,430,000 after acquiring an additional 107,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in Yelp by 2.1% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,898,630 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $58,288,000 after acquiring an additional 39,433 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $39.56 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.64. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.53 and a 12-month high of $48.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.30 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The company had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $341.83 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.42%. Yelp’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on YELP. Raymond James began coverage on Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.75.

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.