SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 28,835 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 64.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,641 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 28,835 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 40,633 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 10,204 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Yelp by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Yelp by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,302 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,161,711 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,304,000 after acquiring an additional 15,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 4th quarter valued at $353,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of YELP stock opened at $25.61 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.60 and a 1 year high of $35.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $24.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.41.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of Yelp 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 owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 209,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,567,380. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,007 shares of company stock valued at $601,981 over the last quarter. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore set a $30.00 target price on Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Yelp 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.