Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Given New $24.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $28.00 to $24.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the local business review company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 13.82% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.88.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock opened at $21.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.26. Yelp has a 1 year low of $19.60 and a 1 year high of $41.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In related news, Director Dan Jedda sold 1,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.02, for a total transaction of $30,773.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $359,442. This trade represents a 7.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total value of $29,664.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 267,835 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,881.20. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,864 shares of company stock worth $723,573. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 34.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 109,876 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,718,000 after acquiring an additional 27,937 shares during the period. Insight Advisors LLC PA acquired a new stake in Yelp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,393,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Yelp by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,683,927 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $66,402,000 after purchasing an additional 457,261 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 428.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 3,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,293,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by 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.