Insider Selling: Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Insider Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $35,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $7,563,198.50. This represents a 0.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Craig Saldanha also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, January 23rd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total transaction of $38,400.00.
• On Monday, December 23rd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.99, for a total value of $37,990.00.
• On Friday, November 29th, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total transaction of $38,050.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP traded down $0.41 on Monday, hitting $35.31. 756,914 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 676,784. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.56 and a 1-year high of $41.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.20 and its 200 day moving average is $36.63.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm had revenue of $361.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $350.73 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Yelp by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,743,899 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $96,256,000 after acquiring an additional 48,363 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,553,227 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $89,567,000 after purchasing an additional 23,719 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Yelp by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,457 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $74,477,000 after purchasing an additional 164,149 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $71,424,000 after purchasing an additional 255,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,774,878 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $68,702,000 after purchasing an additional 15,649 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.