Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $3.19 Million Investment in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 82,414 shares of the local business review company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,189,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Yelp by 82.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1,963.6% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Yelp by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.51, for a total value of $395,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 191,988 shares in the company, valued at $7,585,445.88. This represents a 4.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $49,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 107,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,554,984.12. This represents a 1.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,081,667 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.17.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $38.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.77. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $32.56 and a one year high of $41.72.

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

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.