AlphaQuest LLC Has $3.28 Million Holdings in Yelp Inc. $YELP

AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 583.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 104,961 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 89,599 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Yelp worth $3,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 268.1% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,811,000 after purchasing an additional 548,586 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Yelp by 17.7% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 295,562 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $10,148,000 after purchasing an additional 44,353 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Yelp by 4.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,359,112 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $80,827,000 after purchasing an additional 95,933 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Yelp by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 105,000 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after buying an additional 63,000 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position 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 buying an additional 128,138 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 31,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $943,050. The trade was a 32.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total value of $410,535.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 127,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,137.07. The trade was a 9.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 164,906 shares of company stock valued at $4,729,140 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on YELP. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $31.29.

Yelp Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $27.50 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.96 and a 1-year 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. The firm had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. Yelp had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 20.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Yelp 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.