The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Price Target to $25.00

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its target price reduced by The Goldman Sachs Group from $33.00 to $25.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the local business review company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.42% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on YELP. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 target price on Yelp in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.50.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $21.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.12. Yelp has a 52 week low of $19.61 and a 52 week high of $41.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 9.94%.The firm had revenue of $359.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $358.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total transaction of $410,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,137.07. This represents a 9.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total value of $821,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,719,384.62. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 261,106 shares of company stock worth $7,260,184. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,207,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 268.1% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,811,000 after purchasing an additional 548,586 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 925,898 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,888,000 after acquiring an additional 241,963 shares during the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Yelp by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 105,000 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $3,276,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Yelp during the third quarter worth $1,185,000. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.