Royal Bank of Canada Buys 44,087 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 14.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 358,536 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,087 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.65% of Yelp worth $8,870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Yelp by 192.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 367,028 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $9,080,000 after purchasing an additional 241,656 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in Yelp by 206.4% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 75,180 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after buying an additional 50,644 shares during the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter valued at $325,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 109,876 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,718,000 after buying an additional 27,937 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Advisors LLC PA bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth $1,393,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Key Yelp News

Here are the key news stories impacting Yelp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 earnings and revenue exceeded expectations. Yelp reported adjusted earnings of $0.62 per share, well above the $0.32–$0.36 analyst estimates, while revenue of $375.5 million surpassed expectations of approximately $367 million. Revenue increased 1.4% year over year, supporting the positive investor reaction. Yelp Surpasses Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Results beat consensus despite a year-over-year EPS decline. The earnings outperformance suggests effective cost management and stronger-than-anticipated profitability, even though EPS declined from $0.67 in the prior-year quarter. Yelp Quarterly Earnings Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s full-year revenue outlook is broadly in line with Wall Street expectations. Yelp provided fiscal 2026 revenue guidance of approximately $1.5 billion, matching consensus and reducing the risk of a major forecast shortfall. Yelp Shares Rise on Strong Q2

Insider Transactions at Yelp

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. Zacks Research raised Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.57.

Yelp Stock Performance

YELP stock opened at $25.67 on Monday. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.60 and a twelve month high of $34.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day moving average is $24.87 and its 200-day moving average is $24.83.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $375.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.89 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 8.59%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

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.