Royce & Associates LP Has $2.07 Million Position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,450 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,035 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.08% of Yelp worth $2,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in 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 lifted its holdings in Yelp by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,553,227 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $89,567,000 after buying an additional 23,719 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yelp by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,759,229 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $61,724,000 after buying an additional 64,381 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $41,205,000 after buying an additional 56,618 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 13.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 78,585 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total value of $785,007.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,467,776.30. This trade represents a 12.55 % 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, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.51, for a total value of $395,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 191,988 shares in the company, valued at $7,585,445.88. The trade was a 4.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,083,317. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

NYSE YELP opened at $35.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.66. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $32.56 and a one year high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.09. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The company had revenue of $361.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $350.73 million. Equities analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 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.