Trexquant Investment LP Grows Position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Free Report) by 609.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,157 shares of the local business review company's stock after buying an additional 136,724 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.24% of Yelp worth $6,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YELP. State Street Corp lifted 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 worth $89,567,000 after buying an additional 23,719 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Yelp by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $71,424,000 after acquiring an additional 255,775 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,774,878 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $68,702,000 after acquiring an additional 15,649 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 78,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 70.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 601,632 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $23,283,000 after purchasing an additional 249,231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

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Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock traded down $1.61 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $34.12. 243,520 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 806,514. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $36.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.08. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.56 and a 52 week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 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 firm had revenue of $361.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $350.73 million. Research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Morgan Stanley increased 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $49,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 107,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,554,984.12. The trade was a 1.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $7,585,445.88. The trade was a 4.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company's stock.

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.