Inceptionr LLC Makes New $553,000 Investment in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Inceptionr LLC bought a new position 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 fund bought 14,300 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $553,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,743,899 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $96,256,000 after purchasing an additional 48,363 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,553,227 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $89,567,000 after purchasing an additional 23,719 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 3.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,759,229 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $61,724,000 after purchasing an additional 64,381 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 5.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,174,607 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $41,205,000 after purchasing an additional 56,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after purchasing an additional 78,585 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock opened at $35.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.34 and its 200-day moving average is $36.63. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.56 and a 1 year high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $361.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.73 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. On average, analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In related news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.99, for a total value of $37,990.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 183,558 shares in the company, valued at $6,973,368.42. This represents a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total transaction of $785,007.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares in the company, valued at $5,467,776.30. This represents a 12.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,087,187 in the last 90 days. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on YELP. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.17.

Yelp 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.