Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Stock Price Down 6.5% – Time to Sell?

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) dropped 6.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $24.22 and last traded at $23.91. 73,050 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 1,290,208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YELP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.57.

Yelp Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.30, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.46.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The company had revenue of $375.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yelp Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,547.60. This represents a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Yelp by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Yelp by 70.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Yelp by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Yelp by 181.3% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.