Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.2857.

YELP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research cut shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, January 9th.

Yelp Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $28.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.65. Yelp has a 12-month low of $27.29 and a 12-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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.Yelp’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $36,516.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 192,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,844,963.97. This represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.69, for a total value of $46,035.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 74,378 shares in the company, valued at $2,282,660.82. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,406 shares of company stock valued at $1,398,300. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 157.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $9,352,000 after buying an additional 154,612 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Yelp by 0.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,828,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 2.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 208,551 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $7,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,210 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 21.8% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,377 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,458,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.