Insider Selling: Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Insider Sells $35,750.00 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $35,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 211,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,563,198.50. The trade was a 0.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

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 value of $38,400.00.
• On Monday, December 23rd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was 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 Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:YELP opened at $34.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.33. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.56 and a 1 year high of $41.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.93 and a 200-day moving average of $36.64.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $96,256,000 after acquiring an additional 48,363 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Yelp by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings in Yelp by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,457 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $74,477,000 after buying an additional 164,149 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Yelp by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $71,424,000 after buying an additional 255,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 15,649 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.