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

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.8750.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Evercore set a $30.00 price objective on Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 17,507 shares of company stock worth $402,481 over the last three months. Insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of YELP. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Yelp by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 181.3% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock opened at $25.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Yelp has a 12 month low of $19.60 and a 12 month high of $35.39.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Yelp will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.