Money Concepts Capital Corp Buys New Stake in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 68,080 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,684,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abel Hall LLC grew its position in shares of Yelp by 136.6% during the first quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 16,583 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 9,575 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 160.7% during the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 30,515 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 18,809 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Yelp during the 1st quarter worth $313,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yelp in the first quarter valued at $360,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Yelp in the first quarter valued at $287,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

Yelp stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $25.84. The stock had a trading volume of 683,856 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,293,340. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $35.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $24.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $365,547.60. This represents a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,567,380. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,007 shares of company stock valued at $601,981. Insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

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.