Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 4,770 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 3.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 130,964 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 4,770 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $4,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 25.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,410 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Yelp by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,424 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Yelp by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 39,129 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its position in Yelp by 178.4% in the first quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 14,391 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 9,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 64.8% during the first quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 43,500 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,611,000 after buying an additional 17,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.58, for a total transaction of $335,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 160,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,379,381.68. This represents a 5.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.62, for a total value of $34,344.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 193,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,531,644.98. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 36,711 shares of company stock valued at $1,151,959 over the last quarter. Insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

Yelp stock opened at $28.63 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.08 and its 200 day moving average is $33.09. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $27.29 and a one year high of $41.72. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. Yelp had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YELP. Wall Street Zen cut Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $32.20.

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.