Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on YELP. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yelp news, insider Carmen Amara sold 2,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.63, for a total value of $86,549.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 99,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,730,600.57. This trade represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total value of $343,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 239,112 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,203,932.72. This represents a 4.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,551 shares of company stock valued at $1,692,686. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 375.2% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,331,835 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $51,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,588 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 122.8% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,318 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $70,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048,451 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth about $13,811,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $71,424,000 after purchasing an additional 255,775 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 70.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 601,632 shares of the local business review company's stock worth $23,283,000 after purchasing an additional 249,231 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Yelp Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $36.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. Yelp has a 12 month low of $32.29 and a 12 month high of $41.72. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $36.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.37.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.48 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Yelp Company Profile

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.

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