Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $641,000 Investment in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 25,900 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $641,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Yelp by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $81,513,000 after acquiring an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Yelp by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,226,666 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $67,666,000 after purchasing an additional 156,430 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Yelp by 8.3% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,976,150 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $61,656,000 after purchasing an additional 151,354 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Yelp by 7.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,501,764 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $51,458,000 after purchasing an additional 98,303 shares during the period. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,161,711 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,304,000 after purchasing an additional 15,849 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Up 0.9%

Yelp stock opened at $26.58 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.18 and a 200-day moving average of $25.49. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.60 and a twelve month high of $35.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.46.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $361.46 million for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 209,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,567,380. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the business’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 sale, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,007 shares of company stock worth $601,981 in the last three months. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. 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 Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average 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.