Yelp (NYSE:YELP) CTO Alexander Coleman Levy Sells 3,829 Shares of Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) CTO Alexander Coleman Levy sold 3,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total transaction of $89,598.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 54,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,266,501.60. This represents a 6.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $23.86 on Tuesday. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.60 and a twelve month high of $34.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.54. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business had revenue of $375.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YELP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.57.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 181.3% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Company Profile

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.