JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Price Target to $22.00

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its price objective cut by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $30.00 to $22.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the local business review company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 1.57% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on YELP. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price objective on Yelp in a report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore lowered their price target on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.50.

Yelp Price Performance

Yelp stock opened at $21.66 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.04 and a 200-day moving average of $30.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp has a 1 year low of $19.61 and a 1 year high of $41.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The business had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $358.70 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total transaction of $410,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 127,627 shares in the company, valued at $3,881,137.07. The trade was a 9.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 31,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $943,050. This represents a 32.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 261,106 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,184 in the last 90 days. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of YELP. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Yelp by 157.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 154,612 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Yelp by 0.7% during 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 buying an additional 506 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Yelp by 2.6% during 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 buying an additional 5,210 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Yelp in the first quarter worth about $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Yelp

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.