Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Shares Sold by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 7.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,251,108 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 103,744 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 1.87% of Yelp worth $43,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 4.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,695,536 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $99,600,000 after purchasing an additional 111,936 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Yelp by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,693,819 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $62,587,000 after acquiring an additional 33,046 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 586,820 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $21,683,000 after acquiring an additional 4,547 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 567,567 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $20,972,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Yelp by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 429,438 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $16,920,000 after purchasing an additional 21,503 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YELP has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com lowered Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Bank of America started coverage on Yelp in a report on Monday, September 16th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.33.

Yelp Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:YELP opened at $34.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.81. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.56 and a 12 month high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The local business review company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.27. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm had revenue of $357.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $352.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total value of $238,140.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 255,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,083.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total transaction of $238,140.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 255,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,083.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 145,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,080,985. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Company Profile

Yelp Inc operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services.