Insider Selling: Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CFO Sells 7,500 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $187,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 216,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,420,000. This represents a 3.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Yelp Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:YELP traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,286,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,481,081. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.60 and a 12-month high of $41.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.56 and a 200-day moving average of $28.66.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The business had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $358.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on YELP shares. Wall Street Zen cut Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $28.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bfsg LLC raised its position in Yelp by 110.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Yelp by 100.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in 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. Finally, MAI Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 1,102.0% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,202 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Company 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.