Insider Selling: Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) COO Sells 7,000 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $253,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 288,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,467,634.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Yelp Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $35.77 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78 and a beta of 1.33. Yelp Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.76 and a 12-month high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The local business review company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $332.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $333.66 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 8.44%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on YELP shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Yelp from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Yelp in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum decreased their target price on Yelp from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 4,634.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 65.6% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,250 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.