Odyssean LLC Buys New Shares in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Odyssean LLC bought a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 128,693 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,156,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 181.3% during 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 bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 1st quarter worth $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 8,809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.19, for a total transaction of $204,280.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 180,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,185,006.54. This trade represents a 4.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,645 shares of company stock valued at $685,185. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YELP shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Evercore set a $30.00 price target on Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research raised 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 report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.57.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $23.78 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $25.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.53. The company has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 8.59%.The business had revenue of $375.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Yelp’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yelp Profile

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.