Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Now Covered by Bank of America

Analysts at Bank of America started coverage on shares of Yelp (NYSE:YELP) in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 price target on the local business review company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target points to a potential downside of 11.37% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on YELP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.20.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $33.85 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64 and a beta of 1.33. Yelp has a 1 year low of $32.56 and a 1 year high of $48.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.00.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The local business review company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.27. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $357.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. Yelp’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yelp will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at $5,080,985. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at $5,080,985. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $253,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 288,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,467,634.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,776 shares of company stock worth $863,590. 7.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of YELP. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Yelp in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Yelp by 262.8% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 664 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yelp in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in Yelp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in Yelp by 153.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,323 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.