Insider Selling: Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Director Sells 1,464 Shares of Stock

by · The Markets Daily

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP – Get Free Report) Director Dan Jedda sold 1,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.02, for a total transaction of $30,773.28. Following the sale, the director owned 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $359,442. The trade was a 7.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Yelp Trading Up 7.4%

Shares of NYSE:YELP traded up $1.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.24. The company had a trading volume of 2,013,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,630. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.60 and a 12 month high of $41.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.55.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 9.94%.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 firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on YELP. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price objective on Yelp in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $28.50.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Yelp

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Optimus Prime Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Yelp by 553.8% during the 3rd quarter. Optimus Prime Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850,000 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $26,520,000 after purchasing an additional 720,000 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 399.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 725,214 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $24,853,000 after buying an additional 579,894 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Yelp by 268.1% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,811,000 after buying an additional 548,586 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Yelp by 217.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 551,212 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $18,890,000 after buying an additional 377,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Yelp by 1,144.9% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 351,006 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $12,029,000 after acquiring an additional 322,810 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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