Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CEO Sells $1,492,500.00 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP – Get Rating) CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.85, for a total value of $1,492,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 501,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,976,819.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Jeremy Stoppelman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 25th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 50,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $1,486,000.00.
• On Thursday, January 19th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 50,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.88, for a total value of $1,444,000.00.
• On Tuesday, January 17th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 50,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value of $1,442,000.00.
• On Friday, January 13th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 50,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.81, for a total transaction of $1,440,500.00.
• On Monday, January 9th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 50,000 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction of $1,428,500.00.
• On Wednesday, January 11th, Jeremy Stoppelman sold 50,000 shares of Yelp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.65, for a total transaction of $1,432,500.00.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP traded up $0.42 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.00. 625,499 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 561,700. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.30 and a 1-year high of $39.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.60 and a beta of 1.40.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The local business review company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01. Yelp had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 5.44%. The business had revenue of $308.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.12 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Yelp in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 94.6% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,584 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 497.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 2,178 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.2% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,033 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Yelp during the fourth quarter valued at about $132,000. 93.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YELP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Yelp from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $23.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on Yelp from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Yelp from $34.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $38.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.38.

About Yelp

(Get Rating)

Yelp, Inc operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company’s platform covers various local business 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.