JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Price Target to $22.00

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $30.00 to $22.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the local business review company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on YELP. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Evercore cut their price target on Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $28.50.

Yelp Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of YELP opened at $21.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.55. Yelp has a 52 week low of $19.61 and a 52 week high of $41.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $27.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.06.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $359.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $358.70 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 9.94%.Yelp’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Yelp news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,435 shares in the company, valued at $943,050. The trade was a 32.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total transaction of $410,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 127,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,137.07. This trade represents a 9.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 261,106 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,184. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bfsg LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Yelp during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.