Insider Selling: Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO Sells 2,750 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total value of $111,732.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,516,994.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YELP opened at $39.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.19 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.59. Yelp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.53 and a fifty-two week high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The firm had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.83 million. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on YELP shares. StockNews.com raised Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Yelp in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.75.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in Yelp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Yelp by 96.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 755 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Yelp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Yelp by 83.6% during the 1st quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 1,166 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the period. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 221.1% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 1,204 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 829 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.