Trade Alert: Chief People Officer Of Yelp Carmen Amara Has Sold Stock

We wouldn't blame Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Carmen Amara, the Chief People Officer recently netted about US$569k selling shares at an average price of US$38.00. That diminished their holding by a very significant 77%, which arguably implies a strong desire to reallocate capital.

Check out our latest analysis for Yelp

Yelp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Carmen Amara was the biggest sale of Yelp shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$36.70. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.

Yelp insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Does Yelp Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Yelp insiders own about US$132m worth of shares (which is 5.3% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Yelp Insiders?

An insider hasn't bought Yelp stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But it is good to see that Yelp is growing earnings. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Yelp. While conducting our analysis, we found that Yelp has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

Of course Yelp may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.