Jennison Associates LLC Acquires New Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 16,076 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Yelp by 633.3% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 6,600 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Yelp by 2.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 40,200 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Yelp during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yelp during the first quarter valued at approximately $449,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Yelp by 9.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,126 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after purchasing an additional 5,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on YELP. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Craig Hallum cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.67.

Yelp Stock Performance

YELP stock opened at $35.18 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.93. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.76 and a 52 week high of $48.99. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.41 and a beta of 1.33.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The local business review company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.16. Yelp had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The business had revenue of $332.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $333.66 million. On average, analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $253,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 288,842 shares in the company, valued at $10,467,634.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $253,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 288,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,467,634.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,516,994.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,818 shares of company stock worth $2,109,323. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Yelp 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.