Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 29,950 Shares of Yelp Inc. $YELP

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 73.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,683 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 29,950 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Yelp were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of YELP. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Yelp during the 1st quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 15,928 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481 over the last 90 days. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on YELP shares. Evercore set a $30.00 price target on Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.88.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $26.48 on Monday. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.60 and a 52-week high of $35.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.93. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.45.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Yelp Company 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.