Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.09 EPS

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The local business review company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09, Zacks reports. Yelp had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 16.02%. Yelp updated its FY 2025 guidance to EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance to EPS.

Yelp Stock Down 8.1 %

NYSE YELP traded down $3.27 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.28. 1,650,764 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 590,609. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.49 and a 200 day moving average of $36.53. Yelp has a 12-month low of $32.56 and a 12-month high of $45.05. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.12, for a total value of $377,329.28. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 122,480 shares in the company, valued at $4,301,497.60. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.29, for a total transaction of $382,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 211,988 shares in the company, valued at $8,117,020.52. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,011 shares of company stock worth $1,677,131. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YELP. Evercore ISI raised shares of Yelp to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.17.

About Yelp

Yelp Inc operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services.