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

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

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

Yelp Stock Up 0.8 %

YELP stock opened at $35.73 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.69. Yelp has a 12-month low of $32.56 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The company has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Insider Activity

In other Yelp news, insider Carmen Amara sold 11,238 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $393,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 108,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,784,305. The trade was a 9.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 191,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,585,445.88. This represents a 4.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 57,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,083,317. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Yelp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,743,899 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $96,256,000 after buying an additional 48,363 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,553,227 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $89,567,000 after acquiring an additional 23,719 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Yelp by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,924,457 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $74,477,000 after acquiring an additional 164,149 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Yelp by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,845,575 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $71,424,000 after purchasing an additional 255,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,774,878 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $68,702,000 after purchasing an additional 15,649 shares during the period. 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.