Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CTO Sells $89,598.60 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CTO Alexander Coleman Levy sold 3,829 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total value of $89,598.60. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 54,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,266,501.60. This trade represents a 6.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $23.86. 883,669 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,283,573. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company’s 50 day moving average is $24.98 and its 200 day moving average is $24.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.45. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $19.60 and a one year high of $34.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $375.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $366.89 million. Yelp had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Evercore set a $30.00 price target on Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,683,927 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $66,402,000 after purchasing an additional 457,261 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in Yelp by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $81,513,000 after purchasing an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Yelp by 8.3% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,976,150 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $61,656,000 after acquiring an additional 151,354 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 7.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,501,764 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $51,458,000 after acquiring an additional 98,303 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Yelp by 1,679.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,407,914 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $34,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

About Yelp

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.