Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

YELP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total transaction of $785,007.30. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 153,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,467,776.30. This represents a 12.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total value of $34,450.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 222,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,665,538.40. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,025,717. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Yelp by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Yelp by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its position in Yelp by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,030 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Yelp by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,767 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its position in Yelp by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 60,697 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,349,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Up 8.6%

YELP stock opened at $38.80 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.00. Yelp has a twelve month low of $32.29 and a twelve month high of $41.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Yelp Company Profile

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.