Analysts Set Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Price Target at $41.75

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.75.

YELP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Yelp in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,516,994.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 18.2% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,496,166 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $103,789,000 after acquiring an additional 384,566 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Yelp by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,994,129 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $94,402,000 after purchasing an additional 13,790 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Yelp by 65.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,215,355 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $57,535,000 after purchasing an additional 482,242 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yelp by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,019,944 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $48,284,000 after purchasing an additional 12,511 shares during the period. Finally, Goodnow Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Goodnow Investment Group LLC now owns 641,660 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $30,376,000 after buying an additional 7,940 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Trading Up 0.5 %

YELP stock opened at $40.44 on Monday. Yelp has a 12-month low of $26.53 and a 12-month high of $48.99. The business’s 50-day moving average is $38.97 and its 200 day moving average is $42.48. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 1.49.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. Yelp had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yelp will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal 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.