Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,165 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 430 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Yelp were worth $858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Yelp by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 82.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Yelp by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Yelp by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $35.73 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.70. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.56 and a 12 month high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The business had revenue of $361.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.73 million. Analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total value of $785,007.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,467,776.30. This trade represents a 12.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total transaction of $38,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 182,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,010,227.20. This trade represents a 0.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,045,327. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.17.

About Yelp

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.