Insider Selling: Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Insider Sells 2,300 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) insider Carmen Amara sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.63, for a total transaction of $86,549.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 99,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,730,600.57. The trade was a 2.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Carmen Amara also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 27th, Carmen Amara sold 6,886 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction of $262,976.34.
• On Friday, March 7th, Carmen Amara sold 11,238 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $393,330.00.
• On Tuesday, March 4th, Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $49,740.00.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of Yelp stock traded up $1.04 on Tuesday, hitting $38.44. 661,261 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 737,422. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $32.29 and a one year high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Yelp by 82.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in Yelp by 1,963.6% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in 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. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 307.4% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter valued at $52,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YELP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.00.

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.