Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $28.50 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Dan Jedda sold 1,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.02, for a total transaction of $30,773.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $359,442. This represents a 7.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $199,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 209,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,567,380. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 65,064 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,313. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Yelp by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,298 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yelp by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,204 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 35,838 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 19,871 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 110.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $28.95 on Monday. Yelp has a 52-week low of $19.60 and a 52-week high of $41.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $25.05 and a 200-day moving average of $27.68.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced 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 net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The company had revenue of $359.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $358.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.