Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $27.88 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.8750.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th.

Yelp Stock Down 1.8%

YELP stock opened at $22.48 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 10.26, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.47. Yelp has a twelve month low of $19.60 and a twelve month high of $35.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.89.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted 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 business had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Yelp will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $355,885.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $365,547.60. The trade was a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,567,380. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,207 shares of company stock valued at $631,645. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.7% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 467,195 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $11,558,000 after purchasing an additional 66,833 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Yelp by 192.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 367,028 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $9,080,000 after buying an additional 241,656 shares during the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC lifted its position in Yelp by 225.9% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 2,796 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Yelp by 73.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 562,739 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $13,922,000 after buying an additional 238,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in Yelp by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 155,897 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $3,857,000 after buying an additional 2,883 shares during the last quarter. 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.