Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives $37.17 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.17.

Separately, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Yelp from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th.

Yelp Stock Performance

NYSE YELP opened at $36.85 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.72. Yelp has a 52-week low of $32.56 and a 52-week high of $41.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The local business review company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $361.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.73 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.41%. On average, analysts forecast that Yelp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yelp news, insider Carmen Amara sold 11,238 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $393,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 108,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,784,305. The trade was a 9.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.51, for a total value of $395,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 191,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,585,445.88. The trade was a 4.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,727 shares of company stock worth $2,045,327 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 654,059 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 78,585 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,743,899 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $96,256,000 after purchasing an additional 48,363 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in Yelp by 347.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 160,363 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $5,627,000 after purchasing an additional 124,561 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yelp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $732,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 204,077 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $7,159,000 after buying an additional 14,213 shares during the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is 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.