AlphaQuest LLC Has $526,000 Holdings in Yelp Inc. $YELP

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 52,872.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,362 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,333 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in Yelp by 7.4% during the first quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,986 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Yelp by 0.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,828,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Yelp by 47.3% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management grew its position in Yelp by 4.3% during the second quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 16,387 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC grew its position in Yelp by 2.1% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 34,649 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.58, for a total transaction of $335,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 160,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,379,381.68. This represents a 5.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $37,116.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 202,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,263,325. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 37,900 shares of company stock worth $1,214,460 in the last quarter. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP stock opened at $32.47 on Wednesday. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.96 and a 52-week high of $41.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.93 and a 200-day moving average of $34.08.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on YELP. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI set a $45.00 target price on shares of Yelp and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

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.