Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CFO David Schwarzbach Sells 7,500 Shares

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $187,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 216,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,420,000. This represents a 3.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Yelp Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of YELP opened at $24.17 on Thursday. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.60 and a fifty-two week high of $41.22. The company’s fifty day moving average is $24.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on YELP. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $28.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Bfsg LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 110.3% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 100.0% during 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 buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Yelp by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1,102.0% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,202 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.