Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $27.88 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.5714.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481. Insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Headwater Capital Co Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,558,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 858.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,476 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,352,000 after buying an additional 39,838 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its position in Yelp by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 251,569 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $7,633,000 after buying an additional 39,585 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Yelp by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 653,818 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $19,870,000 after buying an additional 236,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Yelp by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $81,513,000 after buying an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock opened at $24.52 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.89 and a 200-day moving average of $24.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.45. Yelp has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $34.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $375.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.89 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 8.59%.Yelp’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Yelp will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

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.