Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Director Christine Barone Sells 15,507 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Yelp Price Performance

NYSE YELP opened at $21.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.41. Yelp Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.60 and a 52-week high of $37.92. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.47.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Yelp by 0.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,298 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Yelp by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,204 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 35,838 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 19,871 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. 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.