Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.2857.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on YELP shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 target price on Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on Yelp in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine Barone sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $450,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 31,435 shares in the company, valued at $943,050. This represents a 32.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total value of $410,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 127,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,881,137.07. The trade was a 9.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 261,106 shares of company stock worth $7,260,184 in the last 90 days. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of YELP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 157.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 252,564 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $9,352,000 after acquiring an additional 154,612 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Yelp by 0.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 76,376 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,828,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Yelp by 2.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 208,551 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $7,723,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yelp by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,377 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,458,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Yelp during the first quarter worth $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.11% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YELP opened at $24.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.63. Yelp has a 1-year low of $23.80 and a 1-year high of $41.22. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.55.

About Yelp

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company’s flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.