Insider Selling: Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) COO Sells 6,000 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.26. 670,760 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 785,923. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.53 and a 52 week high of $48.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. The firm had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.83 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on YELP. StockNews.com upgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Craig Hallum reduced their target price on Yelp from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.75.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yelp by 33.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 41.2% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 81,542 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 23,806 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Yelp by 4.2% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 196,631 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $6,707,000 after buying an additional 8,007 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 25,154 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $858,000 after purchasing an additional 2,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its position in shares of Yelp by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 39,573 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after acquiring an additional 3,344 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Company Profile

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.