Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Insider Craig Saldanha Sells 1,000 Shares

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total transaction of $38,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 182,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,010,227.20. The trade was a 0.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• 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 transaction 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 opened at $38.76 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.18. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.56 and a 1-year high of $45.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.34.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The local business review company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.16. Yelp had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 16.02%. The firm had revenue of $360.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $360.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Yelp by 6.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 106,972 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $3,953,000 after buying an additional 6,191 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Yelp by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,693,819 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $62,587,000 after purchasing an additional 33,046 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Yelp by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,879 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Yelp by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 221,288 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $8,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 5.7% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 148,374 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $5,482,000 after purchasing an additional 8,016 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. Evercore ISI raised Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $38.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.17.

About Yelp

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.