Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 255,775 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company's stock after buying an additional 255,775 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 2.80% of Yelp worth $71,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of YELP. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 78,585 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 347.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 160,363 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $5,627,000 after purchasing an additional 124,561 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yelp during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,197,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 366,297 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $14,176,000 after acquiring an additional 10,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Suncoast Equity Management bought a new position in Yelp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $721,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.17.

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Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $38.36. 960,797 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 726,480. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.56 and a 12 month high of $41.72. The business's 50-day moving average is $37.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.91.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $361.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $350.73 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total value of $38,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 182,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,010,227.20. This represents a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $7,585,445.88. This represents a 4.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,081,667 over the last three months. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.