Yelp Inc. $YELP Holdings Raised by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 4.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,387 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Yelp were worth $562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Yelp by 122.8% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,318 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $70,443,000 after buying an additional 1,048,451 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Yelp by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,403,461 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $51,981,000 after buying an additional 71,626 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in Yelp by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 555,797 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $20,581,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Yelp by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,536 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $13,869,000 after buying an additional 8,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Yelp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $13,811,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.24, for a total value of $312,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 170,196 shares in the company, valued at $5,316,923.04. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $48,495.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 85,566 shares in the company, valued at $2,766,348.78. This trade represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,400 shares of company stock worth $1,211,130 in the last quarter. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $30.30 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.98. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $29.96 and a one year high of $41.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.30.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The local business review company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $370.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.71 million. Yelp had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

About Yelp

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.