Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 241,656 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 192.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 367,028 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 241,656 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $9,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Yelp by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Yelp by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Yelp by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Yelp by 181.3% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth approximately $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on YELP. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore set a $30.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research raised Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.57.

Yelp Trading Up 1.0%

YELP opened at $24.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.60 and a 12 month high of $34.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.71.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 8.59%.The company had revenue of $375.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $366.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.