Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.17.

Separately, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Insider Activity

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.51, for a total value of $395,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 191,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,585,445.88. The trade was a 4.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Sam Eaton sold 21,989 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total transaction of $785,007.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 153,159 shares in the company, valued at $5,467,776.30. This represents a 12.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,045,327. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Yelp by 375.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,331,835 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $51,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,588 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 163.4% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 853,867 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $33,045,000 after buying an additional 529,667 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Yelp by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $71,424,000 after acquiring an additional 255,775 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Yelp by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 601,632 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $23,283,000 after acquiring an additional 249,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Yelp by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 507,990 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $19,659,000 after acquiring an additional 236,400 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP opened at $36.85 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.72. Yelp has a 1 year low of $32.56 and a 1 year high of $41.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $361.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.73 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. Equities analysts expect 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.