Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Insider Carmen Amara Sells 500 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) insider Carmen Amara sold 500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.35, for a total transaction of $11,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 132,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,955,206.40. This trade represents a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Yelp Trading Up 2.8%

YELP opened at $22.44 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $39.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $25.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.86.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Yelp by 157.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 0.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,828,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 2.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 208,551 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $7,723,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 21.8% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,377 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,458,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Yelp during the first quarter worth about $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.88.

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.