Ceera Investments LLC Sells 29,630 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Ceera Investments LLC decreased its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 15.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 162,812 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 29,630 shares during the quarter. Yelp makes up 1.8% of Ceera Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $4,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 181.3% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365,547.60. This represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yelp Trading Down 4.1%

Yelp stock opened at $26.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.60 and a 52 week high of $35.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $353.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Yelp’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

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.