Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.75.

YELP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James started coverage on Yelp in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares in the company, valued at $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $111,732.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,516,994.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 65.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,215,355 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $57,535,000 after purchasing an additional 482,242 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,718,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yelp by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,496,166 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $103,789,000 after purchasing an additional 384,566 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yelp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $13,873,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Yelp by 186.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,505 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $21,942,000 after purchasing an additional 301,715 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $40.82 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.84 and a 200 day moving average of $42.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24 and a beta of 1.49. Yelp has a one year low of $26.53 and a one year high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Yelp will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.