Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “strong sell” to a “hold” rating, adding to a mixed analyst backdrop that still leans cautious overall.
• Analyst sentiment remains subdued, with only one Buy rating versus four Hold and three Sell ratings; MarketBeat’s consensus rating is “Reduce” with a $27.88 target price.
• Yelp’s latest quarter beat expectations, posting $0.30 EPS versus $0.26 expected and revenue of $361.46 million, while shares were trading at $21.65 near the lower end of their 52-week range.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

YELP has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore set a $30.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Yelp Stock Performance

NYSE:YELP opened at $21.65 on Thursday. Yelp has a 12-month low of $19.60 and a 12-month high of $39.72. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total transaction of $29,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 267,835 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,620,881.20. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dan Jedda sold 1,464 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.02, for a total transaction of $30,773.28. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $359,442. The trade was a 7.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,864 shares of company stock valued at $723,573. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 20.5% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 457,261 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,682,238 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $81,513,000 after purchasing an additional 279,300 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 8.3% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,976,150 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $61,656,000 after purchasing an additional 151,354 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 7.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,501,764 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $51,458,000 after purchasing an additional 98,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,161,711 shares of the local business review company's stock valued at $35,304,000 after purchasing an additional 15,849 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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