Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Price Target Lowered to $22.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its price target cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $30.00 to $22.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the local business review company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on YELP. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore dropped their price objective on Yelp from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.50.

Yelp Stock Performance

Shares of YELP stock opened at $20.65 on Tuesday. Yelp has a 1 year low of $19.61 and a 1 year high of $41.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $358.70 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 9.94%.The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yelp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total transaction of $821,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,719,384.62. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 13,500 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,881,137.07. This represents a 9.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 261,106 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,184 over the last 90 days. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bfsg LLC raised its position in shares of Yelp by 110.3% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Yelp during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 100.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 181.3% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.