Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Insider Sells $37,530.00 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.53, for a total value of $37,530.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 214,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,058,441.60. This represents a 0.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Wednesday, April 23rd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total value of $34,450.00.
• On Monday, March 24th, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.34, for a total value of $36,340.00.

Yelp Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE:YELP traded down $0.92 on Friday, hitting $37.75. The stock had a trading volume of 157,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,508. The business's fifty day moving average is $36.32 and its 200 day moving average is $37.35. The company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.29 and a 52 week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.48 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Yelp by 9.3% in 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 buying an additional 164,149 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Yelp by 122.8% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,318 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $70,443,000 after buying an additional 1,048,451 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $71,424,000 after acquiring an additional 255,775 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,774,878 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $68,702,000 after acquiring an additional 15,649 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 5.4% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,403,461 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $51,981,000 after acquiring an additional 71,626 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.00.

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.