Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $27.57 Average PT from Brokerages

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $27.5714.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Yelp Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:YELP opened at $22.45 on Monday. Yelp has a one year low of $19.60 and a one year high of $34.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.48.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 8.59%.The company had revenue of $375.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $366.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Alexander Coleman Levy sold 3,829 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total transaction of $89,598.60. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 54,124 shares in the company, valued at $1,266,501.60. The trade was a 6.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 8,809 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.19, for a total transaction of $204,280.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 180,466 shares in the company, valued at $4,185,006.54. This trade represents a 4.65% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 13,638 shares of company stock worth $317,879 over the last quarter. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Headwater Capital Co Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the fourth quarter worth $4,558,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Yelp by 73.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 562,739 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $13,922,000 after purchasing an additional 238,993 shares during the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 1st quarter valued at $1,684,000. LSV Asset Management lifted 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 worth $81,513,000 after purchasing an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Yelp by 14.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 358,536 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $8,870,000 after buying an additional 44,087 shares in the last quarter. 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.