Bank of Montreal Can Lowers Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,774 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 18,596 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Yelp were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 122.8% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,318 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $70,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048,451 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Yelp by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,403,461 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $51,981,000 after purchasing an additional 71,626 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Yelp by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 683,935 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $23,438,000 after acquiring an additional 128,138 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Yelp in the 1st quarter worth about $13,811,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Yelp by 157.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $314,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 180,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,663,560.28. This trade represents a 5.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.37, for a total transaction of $47,055.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 84,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,637,150.42. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,100 shares of company stock worth $1,254,036. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yelp Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $28.06 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.29 and a fifty-two week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 10.28%.The firm had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YELP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $32.20.

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.