Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Yelp (NYSE:YELP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on YELP. Bank of America reduced their price target on Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $30.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $34.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.00. Yelp has a 52 week low of $29.96 and a 52 week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The local business review company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.19. Yelp had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 10.28%. The business had revenue of $370.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.71 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Yelp news, Director Dan Jedda sold 2,794 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.68, for a total value of $99,689.92. Following the sale, the director owned 18,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,363.52. This trade represents a 13.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Carmen Amara sold 6,886 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $262,976.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 92,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,523,142.07. This represents a 6.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 58,345 shares of company stock valued at $2,151,656. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Yelp during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 307.4% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth approximately $52,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth approximately $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.