Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Yelp from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Yelp from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of YELP stock opened at $34.39 on Friday. Yelp has a 1 year low of $32.29 and a 1 year high of $41.72. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.25. The company has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.02.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The local business review company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $358.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.48 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.42% and a net margin of 9.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total transaction of $343,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 239,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,203,932.72. This trade represents a 4.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total value of $34,450.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 222,512 shares in the company, valued at $7,665,538.40. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 57,345 shares of company stock worth $2,112,836 in the last ninety days. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Yelp by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,815 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Yelp by 82.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 637 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its stake in Yelp by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,030 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Yelp by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,767 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P grew its stake in Yelp by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 60,697 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,349,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.