Christine Barone Sells 15,000 Shares of Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Stock

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 31,435 shares in the company, valued at $943,050. The trade was a 32.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 979,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 847,189. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.32, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.03. Yelp Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.29 and a twelve month high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.39 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YELP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $32.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth about $1,945,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Yelp by 169.1% in the first quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,662 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 10,471 shares in the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 30.4% in the first quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 40,325 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 9,393 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Yelp by 268.1% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,811,000 after acquiring an additional 548,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth approximately $657,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently 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.