Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Given New $26.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan raised Yelp’s price target from $22 to $26 while keeping a neutral rating, implying roughly 3.7% downside from the current share price.
• Other analysts remain cautious overall: the consensus rating is “Reduce” with an average target price of $29.38, and several firms have recently cut targets or issued sell-leaning ratings.
• Yelp’s latest earnings beat expectations, reporting $0.30 EPS on revenue of $361.46 million, but the company is also seeing insider selling and mixed sentiment around rising AI-related investment costs.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the local business review company's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target would indicate a potential downside of 3.72% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on YELP. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday. Zacks Research cut Yelp from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 price target on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $29.38.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP stock traded down $1.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $27.00. 1,421,361 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,306,228. Yelp has a one year low of $19.60 and a one year high of $41.22. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $25.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.53.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The business had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $353.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In related news, Director Dan Jedda sold 1,464 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 227,959 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,698,975. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 28,864 shares of company stock worth $723,573 over the last quarter. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,683,927 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $66,402,000 after acquiring an additional 457,261 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 428.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 3,016 shares during the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 1st quarter valued at $4,293,000. Aurora Investment Counsel lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 78,150 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $1,933,000 after acquiring an additional 8,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 45,958 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 7,433 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company's stock.

Yelp News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Yelp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management emphasized acceleration of Yelp’s AI transformation and faster adoption of its Assistant product, which management says is driving a meaningful increase in “other” revenue that can lift monetization over time. Yelp Inc. (YELP) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Official press release highlights Yelp’s push on AI and frames the quarter as part of a multi-quarter AI investment to expand product engagement and long-term revenue opportunities. Yelp Reports First Quarter 2026 Results, Advances AI Transformation
• Neutral Sentiment: Consensus-tilted coverage notes Yelp’s quarterly revenue beat vs. Street estimates (reported ~$361M) and modest year-over-year revenue growth, suggesting top-line resilience even as overall growth stays modest. Yelp (YELP) Tops Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Market recap summaries echo the beat on revenue and note slight year-over-year revenue improvement and a small positive surprise on EPS relative to some estimates — but they also highlight mixed comparability across outlets. Yelp Earnings/Transcript Summary (MarketBeat)
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and coverage flagged rising costs and higher operating spend tied to AI and product investment; that pushed near-term EPS down or created mixed EPS reads across outlets, pressuring sentiment. YELP Q1 Earnings Decline as Costs Rise, Revenues Increase Y/Y
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/consumer trend pieces (Yelp’s home-trends content) were published but are unlikely to move the stock materially; they support marketing/engagement narratives rather than near-term financials. Yelp report shows bold, functional small-space trends rising

Yelp Company Profile

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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