Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Insider Sells $35,230.00 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $35,230.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 212,720 shares in the company, valued at $7,494,125.60. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, June 23rd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.34, for a total transaction of $34,340.00.
• On Friday, May 23rd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.53, for a total transaction of $37,530.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.73. The company had a trading volume of 486,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 792,638. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $35.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.52. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.28 and a 1-year high of $41.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.98.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 19.42%. The company had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.48 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Yelp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,189,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Yelp by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,967 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 5,071 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Yelp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $234,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Yelp by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 145,376 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $5,626,000 after buying an additional 2,974 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Yelp by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 281,917 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $10,910,000 after buying an additional 46,847 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on YELP shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yelp presently 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.