Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $4.02 Million Stock Position in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 47.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 162,435 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 52,275 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $4,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in 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 valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Yelp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $24.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.47. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.60 and a 12 month high of $35.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YELP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Evercore set a $30.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total transaction of $29,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 267,835 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,881.20. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,207 shares of company stock worth $631,645. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.