Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Shares Down 5.6% – Here’s Why

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) shares were down 5.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $23.36 and last traded at $23.31. Approximately 129,587 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,288,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on YELP shares. Evercore set a $30.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.57.

Yelp Trading Down 5.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $24.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.68.

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

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481 over the last ninety days. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Yelp by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,683,927 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $66,402,000 after buying an additional 457,261 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $81,513,000 after acquiring an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,976,150 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $61,656,000 after acquiring an additional 151,354 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,501,764 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $51,458,000 after acquiring an additional 98,303 shares during the period. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,161,711 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,304,000 after acquiring an additional 15,849 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.