Zacks Research Comments on Yelp’s Q1 Earnings (NYSE:YELP)

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Yelp in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the local business review company will post earnings per share of $0.27 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.38. Zacks Research has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Yelp’s current full-year earnings is $2.22 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Yelp’s Q2 2026 earnings at $0.55 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.58 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $0.53 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $1.94 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $0.58 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $0.60 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $0.59 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $2.27 EPS.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Yelp from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Yelp from $30.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Evercore decreased their target price on Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $28.50.

Yelp Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $24.32 on Friday. Yelp has a 12-month low of $19.60 and a 12-month high of $41.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.36.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $358.70 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 9.94%.Yelp’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.26, for a total transaction of $817,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,621,045.08. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total transaction of $410,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,137.07. This trade represents a 9.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 236,264 shares of company stock worth $6,501,015. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Yelp by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,056 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Yelp by 0.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,298 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,204 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 35,838 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 19,871 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.