Bridgewater Associates LP Has $6.20 Million Stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Bridgewater Associates LP cut its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 160,129 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 21,493 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP owned about 0.24% of Yelp worth $6,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.9% during 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 buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Yelp by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Yelp by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,767 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its stake in Yelp by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 60,697 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,349,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.33.

Yelp Stock Performance

YELP stock opened at $33.06 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.08. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.56 and a 52-week high of $41.72.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total transaction of $38,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 182,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,010,227.20. This trade represents a 0.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,029,667 over the last quarter. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

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.