River Road Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,343,743 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 123,399 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 1.96% of Yelp worth $63,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YELP. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 21,387 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 7,752 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 73,022 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $3,457,000 after purchasing an additional 14,937 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,624,000. AlphaQ Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at about $283,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 221.3% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 12,112 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 8,342 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on YELP. Raymond James began coverage on Yelp in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.75.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

NYSE:YELP remained flat at $39.56 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 470,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,571. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.53 and a twelve month high of $48.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.64.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. Yelp had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $342.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Yelp Company 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.