Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Given Average Rating of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain cautious on Yelp: Eight analysts assign the stock a consensus “Reduce” rating, including three sells, four holds and one buy. Their average 12-month price target is $27.88.
• Recent target changes were mixed, with JPMorgan raising its target to $26 while Morgan Stanley cut its target to $24 and maintained an “underweight” rating.
• Yelp exceeded first-quarter expectations, reporting $0.30 in EPS versus the $0.26 consensus and revenue of $361.46 million, up 0.8% year over year. The stock opened at $25.64, down 3.7%, while institutional investors own 90.11% of shares.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.8750.

Several analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Evercore set a $30.00 price target on Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 11th.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,507 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total value of $355,885.65. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,928 shares in the company, valued at $365,547.60. This represents a 49.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 17,507 shares of company stock valued at $402,481 over the last quarter. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YELP. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Yelp by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Yelp by 181.3% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Yelp during the first quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Yelp Trading Down 3.7%

YELP opened at $25.64 on Thursday. Yelp has a fifty-two week low of $19.60 and a fifty-two week high of $34.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.46. The company's 50 day moving average price is $24.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.87.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.47 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The company's revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Yelp will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source