Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,542 shares of the local business review company’s stock after selling 10,919 shares during the quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Yelp worth $3,233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Yelp by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 78,585 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Yelp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,743,899 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $96,256,000 after acquiring an additional 48,363 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Yelp by 347.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 160,363 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $5,627,000 after acquiring an additional 124,561 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Yelp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $732,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 204,077 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $7,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14,213 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

NYSE YELP opened at $35.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $32.56 and a one year high of $41.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.63.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

YELP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.72, for a total value of $397,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 201,988 shares in the company, valued at $8,022,963.36. The trade was a 4.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.99, for a total value of $37,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 183,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,973,368.42. This represents a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,489 shares of company stock worth $2,087,187 over the last quarter. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

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.