Insider Selling: Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CEO Sells $743,700.00 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.79, for a total transaction of $743,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 964,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,918,061.33. This trade represents a 3.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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

• On Thursday, February 5th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 6,200 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.20, for a total value of $150,040.00.
• 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 value of $817,800.00.
• On Monday, February 2nd, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.54, for a total value 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 value 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 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 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 Up 1.8%

Yelp stock opened at $24.47 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.92 and a 52-week high of $41.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.21 and its 200 day moving average is $30.81. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.83, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bfsg LLC raised its position in Yelp by 110.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Yelp during the second quarter valued at $28,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 100.0% during the third 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. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management lifted its stake in Yelp by 1,102.0% in the second 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 own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.