Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 457,261 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 20.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,683,927 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 457,261 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Yelp were worth $66,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481 over the last quarter. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock opened at $26.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.60 and a 1 year high of $35.26.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The company had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price 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.