State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires 1,505 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,570 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Yelp were worth $2,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,743,899 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $96,256,000 after acquiring an additional 48,363 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Yelp by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,553,227 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $89,567,000 after acquiring an additional 23,719 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,759,229 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $61,724,000 after acquiring an additional 64,381 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,174,607 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $41,205,000 after buying an additional 56,618 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $22,944,000 after buying an additional 78,585 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of 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 raised shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.17.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $35.70 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.59. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $32.56 and a one year high of $41.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total value of $38,050.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 184,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,022,431.90. This represents a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.72, for a total transaction of $397,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,022,963.36. The trade was a 4.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,267 shares of company stock valued at $1,299,802. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.