Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $39.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.00.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on YELP. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Yelp stock opened at $33.87 on Friday. Yelp has a fifty-two week low of $32.56 and a fifty-two week high of $48.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.15. The stock has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57 and a beta of 1.33.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The local business review company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $357.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $352.98 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Yelp will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now 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 hyperlink. In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the sale, 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 this link. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $232,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at $9,371,246.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,776 shares of company stock valued at $863,590. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yelp during the second quarter worth about $499,000. Aristides Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yelp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $370,000. Quarry LP raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Capital Impact Advisors LLC lifted its position in Yelp by 42.9% during the second quarter. Capital Impact Advisors LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $882,000 after purchasing an additional 7,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its stake in Yelp by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 189,864 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $7,015,000 after buying an additional 18,786 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

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.