Key Points
- Yelp insider Carmen Amara sold 500 shares on May 21 at an average price of $22.35, totaling $11,175. The sale was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding tied to vesting equity awards.
- Yelp recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting earnings of $0.30 per share versus the $0.26 estimate and revenue of $361.46 million versus $353.47 million forecast. Revenue rose 0.8% year over year.
- Wall Street sentiment remains cautious, with Yelp carrying an average analyst rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $27.88. Analysts are split between one Buy, four Holds, and three Sells.
Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) insider Carmen Amara sold 500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.35, for a total transaction of $11,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 132,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,206.40. This represents a 0.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.
Yelp Stock Performance
Shares of YELP stock opened at $22.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Yelp Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.60 and a 52 week high of $39.58. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $25.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.86.
Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have commented on YELP shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $27.88.
Read Our Latest Research Report on YELP
Institutional Trading of Yelp
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Yelp by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in Yelp by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Yelp by 181.3% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Yelp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.
Yelp Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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