Yelp Inc. $YELP Shares Bought by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 3,716.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,232 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 43,073 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.07% of Yelp worth $1,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YELP. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 181.3% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Yelp during the 1st quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,097 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $25.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 11.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.60 and a 1 year high of $35.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.10.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Evercore set a $30.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Yelp Company Profile

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company’s flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.