Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Stock Price Down 4.5% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Yelp's stock price fell by 4.5% to $31.35, with trading volume declining by 93% from the average, indicating weakened investor interest.
• Equities analysts have downgraded Yelp's stock rating, with Bank of America lowering its price target from $31.00 to $30.00, and a consensus rating of "Reduce."
• Yelp reported quarterly earnings of $0.67 EPS, surpassing estimates, but also forecasted a target price of $34.00 amidst recent sell-offs by insiders.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 4.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $31.68 and last traded at $31.35. Approximately 59,776 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 819,114 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.82.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on YELP shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yelp has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $34.00.

Yelp Stock Down 4.6%

The business's 50 day moving average is $31.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $37,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 202,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,263,325. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 170,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,316,923.04. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,400 shares of company stock valued at $1,211,130 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Yelp by 2.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,536 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $13,869,000 after buying an additional 8,239 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Yelp during the first quarter valued at $1,945,000. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp in the first quarter valued at $2,766,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 169.1% in the first quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,662 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 272.5% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 56,595 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $2,160,000 after acquiring an additional 41,400 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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