Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

YELP has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Yelp Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:YELP opened at $38.21 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.44 and a 200 day moving average of $35.67. Yelp has a 52 week low of $32.56 and a 52 week high of $48.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at $5,080,985. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Yelp news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,080,985. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total transaction of $238,140.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 255,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,083.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in YELP. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 9.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,126 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,487,000 after acquiring an additional 5,234 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 59,927 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,361,000 after buying an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Yelp in the first quarter worth approximately $235,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 207.2% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,804 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 8,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yelp in the first quarter worth approximately $70,000. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by 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.