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

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.26, for a total transaction of $817,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 756,458 shares in the company, valued at $20,621,045.08. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

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

• On Monday, February 2nd, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.54, for a total transaction of $826,200.00.
• On Tuesday, January 27th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was 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 shares were 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 stock was 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 stock was sold at an average price of $28.48, for a total value of $854,400.00.

Yelp Trading Down 8.7%

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $25.01 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.01. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.92 and a twelve month high of $41.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.07, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YELP. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

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.