Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 124,016 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $4,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Yelp by 82.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 1,963.6% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 76.5% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:YELP opened at $35.73 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.48 and a 200 day moving average of $36.66. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.56 and a 52 week high of $41.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $350.73 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.51, for a total value of $395,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 191,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,585,445.88. This represents a 4.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,467,776.30. This trade represents a 12.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,083,317 in the last three months. 7.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.17.

About Yelp

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.