Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $28.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $187,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 216,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,420,000. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.20, for a total transaction of $150,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 964,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,348,813.40. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 238,764 shares of company stock valued at $6,475,093. Insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bfsg LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Yelp by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Yelp by 181.3% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock opened at $25.53 on Thursday. Yelp has a one year low of $19.60 and a one year high of $41.22. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.24.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $359.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $358.70 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.