Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CFO Sells $204,280.71 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David Schwarzbach sold 8,809 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.19, for a total transaction of $204,280.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 180,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,185,006.54. This represents a 4.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $22.71 on Thursday. Yelp Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.60 and a 12 month high of $34.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm had revenue of $375.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $366.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on YELP shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Evercore set a $30.00 price objective on Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Headwater Capital Co Ltd bought a new stake in Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at $4,558,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in Yelp by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 251,569 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $7,633,000 after purchasing an additional 39,585 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new position in Yelp during the first quarter worth $1,684,000. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $81,513,000 after purchasing an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 73.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 562,739 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $13,922,000 after purchasing an additional 238,993 shares during 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.