Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Director Sells $355,885.65 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This trade represents a 49.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $23.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $37.55. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.21 and its 200-day moving average is $26.35.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 100.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of 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. boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 181.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YELP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.88.

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.