Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Acquires 44,100 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 94.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 91,000 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,100 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Yelp were worth $2,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 157.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,828,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Yelp by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 208,551 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $7,723,000 after buying an additional 5,210 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Yelp by 21.8% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,377 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,458,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Yelp in the first quarter worth $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $21.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.46, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.61 and a 52-week high of $41.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $359.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $358.70 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on YELP shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One 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, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $28.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.40, for a total transaction of $32,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 190,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,230,084.60. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.20, for a total value of $150,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 964,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,348,813.40. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 261,106 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,184. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.