Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Yelp Inc. $YELP

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) by 39.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 522,004 shares of the local business review company’s stock after buying an additional 147,329 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Yelp were worth $12,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YELP. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in Yelp by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 181.3% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Yelp in the first quarter valued at about $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Up 2.5%

YELP stock opened at $25.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $35.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The company had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Yelp Profile

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company’s flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.