Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Given Average Recommendation of "Reduce" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: "Reduce" — Eight brokerages rate Yelp with a consensus "Reduce" (3 sell, 4 hold, 1 buy) and an average 12‑month price target of $28.50, with JPMorgan recently cutting its target to $22.00.
• Insider selling — Insiders have sold 236,264 shares in the past 90 days (notably directors Dan Jedda and Craig Saldanha), and insiders now own about 8% of the company.
• Mixed Q4 results and valuation — Yelp beat Q4 EPS estimates ($0.61 vs. $0.47) while revenue fell 0.5% YoY to roughly $360M; the stock trades at a market cap of about $1.51B with a P/E of 10.9.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price objective on Yelp in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Zacks Research lowered Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Yelp from $30.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dan Jedda sold 1,464 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.02, for a total transaction of $30,773.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 17,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $359,442. This trade represents a 7.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.78, for a total transaction of $26,136.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 253,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,513,258.52. This trade represents a 0.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 236,264 shares of company stock valued at $6,501,015 in the last ninety days. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of YELP. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Yelp by 157.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $9,352,000 after buying an additional 154,612 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 0.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $2,828,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 2.6% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 21.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,053 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Yelp in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yelp News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Yelp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 highlights show Yelp delivered near‑term operating strength (a slight revenue decline but an EPS beat and solid margins), which supports the company’s current valuation and likely underpins some buying interest. Social networking stocks Q4 highlights: Yelp
• Neutral Sentiment: Local consumer momentum: a New Jersey restaurant was named to Yelp’s Top 100 for 2026 — a positive brand/engagement datapoint but with limited direct impact on Yelp’s top‑line or near‑term financials. This NJ restaurant made Yelp's list of top 100 for 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research cut earnings estimates across multiple quarters and trimmed FY2026 and FY2027 EPS forecasts (several Q1–Q4 2026 and Q1–Q4 2027 revisions), and kept a "Hold" rating — these downgrades lower analyst expectations and could pressure the stock if others follow or if management’s guidance disappoints. Yelp (YELP) analyst estimate updates

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock opened at $24.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.30. Yelp has a 1 year low of $19.60 and a 1 year high of $41.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $358.70 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal 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.

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