Meritage Portfolio Management Has $668,000 Stake in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Meritage Portfolio Management increased its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,121 shares of the local business review company’s stock after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Yelp were worth $668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 4,634.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 65.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,250 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp during the third quarter worth about $134,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new position in Yelp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on YELP. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.75.

Yelp Price Performance

Yelp stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.50. 167,241 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 746,477. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.54. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.53 and a 12-month high of $48.99. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The firm had revenue of $342.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.83 million. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $111,732.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,516,994.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.