JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reiterates Underweight Rating for Yelp (NYSE:YELP)

Yelp (NYSE:YELP)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating reissued by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $19.00 target price on the local business review company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential downside of 9.22% from the stock’s previous close.

YELP has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $26.57.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock opened at $20.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.48. Yelp has a 12 month low of $19.60 and a 12 month high of $34.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.43.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The local business review company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.21. Yelp had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm had revenue of $375.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $366.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Alexander Coleman Levy sold 3,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total value of $89,598.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 54,124 shares in the company, valued at $1,266,501.60. This represents a 6.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO David Schwarzbach sold 8,809 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.19, for a total transaction of $204,280.71. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 180,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,185,006.54. The trade was a 4.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,138 shares of company stock valued at $304,949. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Yelp by 157.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 154,612 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Yelp by 0.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $2,828,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Yelp by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 208,551 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $7,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,210 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Yelp by 21.8% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,377 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,458,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Yelp during the 1st quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

About Yelp

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.