Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Sets New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $27.09 and last traded at $27.3330, with a volume of 213208 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $28.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. Evercore ISI reduced 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 price objective on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Yelp Stock Down 3.3%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.70 and a 200-day moving average of $31.32. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.12, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.55.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 10.23%.The business had revenue of $376.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other Yelp news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 31,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $943,050. This trade represents a 32.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 1,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.69, for a total value of $46,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 74,378 shares in the company, valued at $2,282,660.82. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 134,906 shares of company stock worth $3,907,440 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Optimus Prime Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 553.8% in the 3rd quarter. Optimus Prime Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850,000 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $26,520,000 after purchasing an additional 720,000 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 399.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 725,214 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $24,853,000 after acquiring an additional 579,894 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Yelp by 268.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 548,586 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Yelp by 217.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 551,212 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $18,890,000 after purchasing an additional 377,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Yelp by 1,144.9% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 351,006 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $12,029,000 after purchasing an additional 322,810 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.