Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,249 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 371 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Yelp were worth $864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 39,200 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,250 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 186.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,505 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $21,942,000 after acquiring an additional 301,715 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Yelp by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,215,355 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $57,535,000 after purchasing an additional 482,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Yelp by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 104,563 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $4,950,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yelp Trading Down 1.2 %

YELP stock opened at $39.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.64. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.53 and a 12-month high of $48.99. The company has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. Yelp had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $342.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YELP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James initiated coverage on Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded 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 issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.75.

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.