Insider Selling: Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO Sells $111,732.50 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares in the company, valued at $10,516,994.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Yelp Stock Performance

YELP opened at $39.29 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.53 and a 1 year high of $48.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.57. The company has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $342.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Yelp’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Yelp in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.75.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Yelp by 18.2% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,496,166 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $103,789,000 after acquiring an additional 384,566 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Yelp by 2,219.2% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 168,559 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $7,010,000 after purchasing an additional 161,291 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Yelp in the third quarter worth $976,000. EAM Investors LLC acquired a new position in Yelp in the third quarter worth $1,786,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 186.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,505 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $21,942,000 after purchasing an additional 301,715 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Company Profile

Yelp Inc operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services.