Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $34.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.00.

YELP has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Carmen Amara sold 6,886 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $262,976.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 92,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,523,142.07. The trade was a 6.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total value of $35,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 212,720 shares in the company, valued at $7,494,125.60. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,345 shares of company stock worth $2,151,656. Insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in Yelp by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,030 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Yelp by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,767 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its holdings in Yelp by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 60,697 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,349,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in Yelp by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,986 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Yelp by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,828,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of YELP opened at $34.90 on Friday. Yelp has a 12-month low of $32.28 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.40.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.42% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

About Yelp

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.