Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the six analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.20.

YELP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 9,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total value of $281,698.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 141,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,136,432.37. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $49,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 82,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,727,980.64. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 36,906 shares of company stock valued at $1,157,585 over the last three months. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Yelp during the first quarter valued at $1,945,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Yelp by 169.1% in the 1st quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,662 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 10,471 shares in the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 40,325 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 9,393 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Yelp by 268.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 753,173 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,811,000 after buying an additional 548,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter valued at approximately $657,000. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

NYSE YELP opened at $29.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.56. Yelp has a one year low of $27.29 and a one year high of $41.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.04 and its 200-day moving average is $33.03.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.39 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 10.28%.The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS 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.