Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $27.88 Average PT from Analysts

by · The Cerbat Gem

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP – Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.8750.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YELP. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th.

View Our Latest Analysis on Yelp

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yelp news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total value of $29,664.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 267,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,881.20. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,567,380. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,900 shares of company stock worth $703,975. 8.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the third quarter worth $2,207,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Yelp by 35.4% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 925,898 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,888,000 after purchasing an additional 241,963 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the fourth quarter worth $3,348,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Yelp by 858.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,476 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 39,838 shares during the period. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yelp in the third quarter worth $2,656,000. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $22.89 on Friday. Yelp has a 12-month low of $19.60 and a 12-month high of $39.58. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.53. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $25.40 and its 200-day moving average is $26.69.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 9.47%.The company had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Yelp will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yelp Company Profile

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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.

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