David A. Schwarzbach Sells 10,000 Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total transaction of $348,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 242,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,453,476.80. The trade was a 3.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Yelp Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE YELP opened at $34.27 on Friday. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.56 and a 52 week high of $41.72. The company has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.62.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. Yelp had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The firm had revenue of $361.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $350.73 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after buying an additional 78,585 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted 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 worth $96,256,000 after buying an additional 48,363 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 347.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 160,363 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $5,627,000 after purchasing an additional 124,561 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the third quarter worth approximately $732,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 7.5% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 204,077 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $7,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14,213 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.