Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Trading Up 3%

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP)’s stock price was up 3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $41.35 and last traded at $41.31. Approximately 218,701 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 765,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on YELP shares. Raymond James started coverage on Yelp in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.75.

Yelp Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly 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. Yelp had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.40, for a total transaction of $119,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 194,933 shares in the company, valued at $8,460,092.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.40, for a total transaction of $119,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 194,933 shares in the company, valued at $8,460,092.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,750 shares of company stock worth $620,830 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 12,790.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,269,731 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $34,714,000 after buying an additional 1,259,881 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,208,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 7.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,257,853 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $281,675,000 after buying an additional 596,879 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 71.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,384,522 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $42,505,000 after buying an additional 579,148 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,215,355 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $57,535,000 after buying an additional 482,242 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.