Insider Selling: Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CEO Sells $826,200.00 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.54, for a total value of $826,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,832,853.32. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Jeremy Stoppelman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 30th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.26, for a total value of $817,800.00.
• On Tuesday, January 27th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total transaction of $821,700.00.
• On Friday, January 23rd, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.74, for a total transaction of $862,200.00.
• On Tuesday, January 20th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.07, for a total transaction of $842,100.00.
• On Friday, January 16th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.48, for a total transaction of $854,400.00.

Yelp Stock Down 3.3%

NYSE:YELP opened at $24.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.19 and a 52 week high of $41.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.39 and a 200 day moving average of $30.96.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.The business had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Yelp in the fourth quarter valued at $267,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Yelp during the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Horizon Investments LLC grew its holdings in Yelp by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 20,544 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 2,527 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Yelp by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in Yelp by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 57,641 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after acquiring an additional 18,098 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on YELP shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

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.