Jeremy Stoppelman Sells 30,000 Shares of Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total value of $821,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,719,384.62. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Friday, January 23rd, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was 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 shares were 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 Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $27.50 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.22. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $26.96 and a one year high of $41.72. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.39 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.Yelp’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optimus Prime Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Yelp by 553.8% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 399.0% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 725,214 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $24,853,000 after purchasing an additional 579,894 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Yelp by 268.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,811,000 after buying an additional 548,586 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Yelp by 217.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Yelp by 1,144.9% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 351,006 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $12,029,000 after buying an additional 322,810 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.