Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO Sells $348,000.00 in Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total value of $348,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,453,476.80. The trade was a 3.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $34.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.77 and a 200 day moving average of $36.65. Yelp Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.56 and a 1-year high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $361.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $350.73 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on YELP shares. StockNews.com upgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,743,899 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $96,256,000 after acquiring an additional 48,363 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,553,227 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $89,567,000 after purchasing an additional 23,719 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,457 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $74,477,000 after purchasing an additional 164,149 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $71,424,000 after purchasing an additional 255,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,774,878 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $68,702,000 after purchasing an additional 15,649 shares in the last quarter. 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.