Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Insider Craig Saldanha Sells 1,200 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $36,516.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 192,079 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,963.97. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Craig Saldanha also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, December 1st, Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.62, for a total value of $34,344.00.
• On Monday, November 3rd, Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.98, for a total transaction of $39,576.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $30.18 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.29 and a 52 week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.39 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.Yelp’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $32.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 33,137 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 7,107 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Yelp by 157.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Yelp by 19.8% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,176 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 83.4% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,670 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Yelp by 14.0% during the first quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 115,953 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $4,294,000 after buying an additional 14,222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

About Yelp

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company’s flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.