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

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.54, for a total transaction of $826,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,832,853.32. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

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

• On Friday, January 30th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.26, for a total transaction of $817,800.00.
• On Tuesday, January 27th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total transaction of $821,700.00.
• 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 value 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 value of $842,100.00.
• On Friday, January 16th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.48, for a total value of $854,400.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $25.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.01. Yelp Inc. has a one year low of $24.92 and a one year high of $41.22.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

YELP has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 20,544 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,527 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in Yelp by 45.8% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 57,641 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,752,000 after buying an additional 18,098 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new stake in Yelp during the 4th quarter valued at $351,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at $190,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.