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

AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 583.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 104,961 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,599 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $3,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 14.5% during the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,056 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Yelp by 0.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,298 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after buying an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC increased its stake in Yelp by 110.3% during the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its stake in Yelp by 3.4% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 14,436 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, Suncoast Equity Management raised its holdings in Yelp by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 22,525 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YELP. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $31.29.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other Yelp news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $36,516.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 192,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,844,963.97. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total transaction of $821,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 756,458 shares in the company, valued at $20,719,384.62. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 164,906 shares of company stock worth $4,729,140. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $27.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.22. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.96 and a 52-week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.The company had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.39 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Yelp

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.