Brokerages Set Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Price Target at $34.00

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total value of $348,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,453,476.80. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $49,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 107,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,554,984.12. This trade represents a 1.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 57,727 shares of company stock worth $2,025,717. 8.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Yelp by 82.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1,963.6% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 908 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Yelp by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,094 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Yelp by 307.4% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new stake in Yelp in the 1st quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $39.16 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp has a 52 week low of $32.29 and a 52 week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $358.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Yelp

Yelp Inc operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services.