Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 192.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 367,028 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 241,656 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $9,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Yelp by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Yelp by 181.3% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Yelp during the 1st quarter worth $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $26.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $24.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.96. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.60 and a 52-week high of $35.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.46.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yelp news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481 over the last quarter. 8.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YELP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore set a $30.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.88.

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.