Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 66,833 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 467,195 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,833 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 0.85% of Yelp worth $11,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 157.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $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 grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 2.6% in the first 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 grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 21.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Yelp during the first quarter worth $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Down 0.5%

YELP stock opened at $26.68 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $34.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.90.

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. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on YELP shares. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Evercore set a $30.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481 over the last 90 days. 8.30% 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.