OP Asset Management Ltd Takes Position in Yelp Inc. $YELP

OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 598,074 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,796,000. OP Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 1.00% of Yelp as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,435 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 52,275 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 10,204 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 71.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,302 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,161,711 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,304,000 after purchasing an additional 15,849 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YELP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Evercore set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 209,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,567,380. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the sale, the director directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,207 shares of company stock worth $631,645. 8.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP stock opened at $23.33 on Thursday. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.60 and a 52 week high of $35.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.79. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74.

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

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.