Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CFO David Schwarzbach Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 227,959 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,698,975. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Yelp Trading Up 2.9%

Yelp stock opened at $24.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.82, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.14 and a 200-day moving average of $28.91. Yelp Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.60 and a 1 year high of $41.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The business had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $358.70 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. Yelp’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on YELP shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yelp from $30.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $28.50.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 157.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $9,352,000 after buying an additional 154,612 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Yelp by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,828,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Yelp by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 208,551 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $7,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,210 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,377 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,458,000 after acquiring an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Yelp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

About Yelp

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.