Yelp Inc. $YELP Holdings Lifted by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management grew its position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,387 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Yelp were worth $562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Yelp by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,536 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $13,869,000 after purchasing an additional 8,239 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,945,000. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,766,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 169.1% in the first quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,662 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 272.5% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 56,595 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after acquiring an additional 41,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $37,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 202,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,263,325. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.24, for a total transaction of $312,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 170,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,316,923.04. This represents a 5.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,400 shares of company stock valued at $1,211,130. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $30.30 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.98. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.96 and a 1-year high of $41.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.30.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The local business review company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $370.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.71 million. Yelp had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YELP. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Yelp Company 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.