Brokerages Set Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Target Price at $34.00

Key Points

• Yelp Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from six research firms, with two analysts recommending a sell and four a hold.
• The company's stock price target has been adjusted to $34.00 on average, with Bank of America lowering its target from $31.00 to $30.00.
• Yelp reported $0.67 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing expectations of $0.48, and has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS of 2.22.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Reduce" by the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.24, for a total transaction of $312,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 170,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,316,923.04. The trade was a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.17, for a total transaction of $37,404.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 203,700 shares in the company, valued at $6,349,329. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,700 shares of company stock worth $1,161,299 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of YELP. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Yelp by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,359,112 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $80,827,000 after acquiring an additional 95,933 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,093,765 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $71,753,000 after buying an additional 191,447 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 7.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,501,764 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $51,458,000 after acquiring an additional 98,303 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Yelp by 268.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $25,811,000 after acquiring an additional 548,586 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Yelp by 48.5% in the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 741,747 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $25,420,000 after acquiring an additional 242,213 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Yelp Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of YELP stock traded down $0.11 on Friday, reaching $32.02. 288,924 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 813,811. Yelp has a 1-year low of $29.96 and a 1-year high of $41.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.75.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The local business review company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.19. Yelp had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The firm had revenue of $370.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. Yelp's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Yelp

Yelp Inc operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services.