Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Given New $28.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $30.00 to $28.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the local business review company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential downside of 5.80% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of Yelp stock traded down $0.83 on Tuesday, reaching $29.72. The stock had a trading volume of 187,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 854,607. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp has a fifty-two week low of $27.29 and a fifty-two week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.The business had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 31,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $943,050. This represents a 32.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total value of $410,535.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,881,137.07. This trade represents a 9.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,406 shares of company stock worth $1,734,100. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bfsg LLC lifted its holdings in Yelp by 110.3% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 1,102.0% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,202 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp during the third quarter worth $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.