Brokerages Set Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) PT at $37.33

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.33.

YELP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $232,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at $9,371,246.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of Yelp 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,080,985. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total value of $232,750.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 281,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,371,246.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,776 shares of company stock worth $848,050 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Yelp by 4.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,695,536 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $99,600,000 after acquiring an additional 111,936 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,693,819 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $62,587,000 after purchasing an additional 33,046 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Yelp by 0.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 586,820 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $21,683,000 after purchasing an additional 4,547 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Yelp by 1.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 567,567 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $20,972,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Yelp by 5.3% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 429,438 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $16,920,000 after buying an additional 21,503 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP opened at $33.64 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $34.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.11. Yelp has a 1-year low of $32.56 and a 1-year high of $48.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.33.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted 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 business had revenue of $357.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $352.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal 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.