Insider Selling: Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Insider Sells 1,200 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.78, for a total transaction of $26,136.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 253,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,513,258.52. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Craig Saldanha also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, February 2nd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.40, for a total transaction of $32,880.00.
• On Friday, January 2nd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total transaction of $36,516.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

YELP traded up $0.62 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.22. The company had a trading volume of 2,216,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,953,588. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.43. The company has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.56. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.60 and a 12-month high of $41.22.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Evercore cut their target price on Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price target on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $28.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Yelp by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,056 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.7% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,298 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,204 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1.2% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 35,838 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 19,871 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.