Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $1.45 Million in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 46,505 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,451,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Yelp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1,102.0% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,202 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Yelp in the first quarter valued at $56,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in Yelp in the 1st quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Yelp by 83.4% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,670 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YELP. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $32.17.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $943,050. This represents a 32.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total value of $49,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 82,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,727,980.64. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 56,406 shares of company stock worth $1,735,720 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $31.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.56. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.29 and a 12 month high of $41.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.74 and a 200-day moving average of $32.39.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.The business had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yelp Company Profile

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.