Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,475 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new stake in Yelp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Yelp by 57.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,725 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 78.3% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,585 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yelp during the 4th quarter worth $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 12,904 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total value of $492,674.72. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 145,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,538,543.52. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.34, for a total transaction of $34,340.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 213,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,339,144.80. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,345 shares of company stock valued at $1,804,076 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on YELP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $34.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.98. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.29 and a 1-year high of $41.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.47 and a 200 day moving average of $36.75.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.42% and a net margin of 9.95%. The company had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.48 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. Yelp’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.