SEB Asset Management AB Buys New Shares in Yelp Inc. $YELP

SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 173,528 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,293,000. SEB Asset Management AB owned approximately 0.29% of Yelp as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,796,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Yelp by 399.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 725,214 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $24,853,000 after buying an additional 579,894 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Yelp by 1,144.9% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 351,006 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $12,029,000 after buying an additional 322,810 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Yelp by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $81,513,000 after buying an additional 279,300 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc increased its holdings in Yelp by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 741,747 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,420,000 after buying an additional 242,213 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Down 3.9%

YELP opened at $24.78 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.14. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.60 and a twelve month high of $35.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.31, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YELP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.88.

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.