Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,227 shares of the local business review company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,060 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of Yelp worth $1,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yelp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.75.

Yelp Price Performance

NYSE:YELP opened at $39.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.61 and a beta of 1.49. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.53 and a 1-year high of $48.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.54.

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

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.