Allianz Asset Management GmbH Acquires 241,963 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 925,898 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 241,963 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned 1.47% of Yelp worth $28,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 268.1% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,811,000 after purchasing an additional 548,586 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp in the third quarter worth $1,185,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 17.7% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 295,562 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $10,148,000 after buying an additional 44,353 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Yelp by 150.0% during the third 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, 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 worth $80,827,000 after buying an additional 95,933 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yelp news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 31,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $943,050. The trade was a 32.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total transaction of $410,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,627 shares in the company, valued at $3,881,137.07. This represents a 9.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 261,106 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,184 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 price target on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.29.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $24.04 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.92 and a 52-week high of $41.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.29 and a 200-day moving average of $30.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.55.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 20.33%. The business had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.