Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 900 Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 900 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 18.2% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,496,166 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $103,789,000 after acquiring an additional 384,566 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Yelp by 65.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,215,355 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $57,535,000 after acquiring an additional 482,242 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Yelp by 3.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,007,433 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $41,899,000 after acquiring an additional 33,669 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 186.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,505 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $21,942,000 after purchasing an additional 301,715 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yelp during the third quarter valued at about $13,873,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YELP. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Yelp in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,516,994.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

NYSE:YELP opened at $40.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24 and a beta of 1.49. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.53 and a 52 week high of $48.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.50.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The firm had revenue of $342.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.83 million. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Yelp Company 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.