Calamos Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Calamos Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 25,772 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,220,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Yelp by 33.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 41.2% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 81,542 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 23,806 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 4.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 196,631 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $6,707,000 after buying an additional 8,007 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 25,154 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $858,000 after acquiring an additional 2,398 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in Yelp by 9.2% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 39,573 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after acquiring an additional 3,344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock opened at $39.29 on Monday. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.53 and a fifty-two week high of $48.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.58.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YELP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James assumed coverage on Yelp in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.75.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,516,994.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of Yelp 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares in the company, valued at $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,516,994.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $613,213. Corporate insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

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.