Fifth Third Bancorp Has $64,000 Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 57.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,725 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Yelp were worth $64,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Yelp by 82.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 307.4% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in Yelp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Yelp by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Yelp by 445.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $34.39 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.41 and a 200-day moving average of $37.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.02. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.29 and a 52-week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.42% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.34, for a total value of $36,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 223,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,122,426.08. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total value of $343,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 239,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,203,932.72. The trade was a 4.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,345 shares of company stock worth $2,149,176. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.