Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

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

Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock opened at $39.16 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.17. Yelp has a 52 week low of $32.29 and a 52 week high of $41.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,467,776.30. This trade represents a 12.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $35,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $7,563,198.50. This represents a 0.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,025,717 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 375.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,331,835 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $51,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,588 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Yelp by 122.8% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,318 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $70,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,451 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Yelp in the 1st quarter worth $13,811,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Yelp by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $71,424,000 after acquiring an additional 255,775 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Yelp by 70.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 601,632 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $23,283,000 after acquiring an additional 249,231 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.