Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Price Target Cut to $24.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the local business review company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on YELP. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.88.

Yelp Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE YELP opened at $21.65 on Friday. Yelp has a 12 month low of $19.60 and a 12 month high of $39.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.22.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The firm had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Yelp will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 227,959 shares in the company, valued at $5,698,975. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total value of $29,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 267,835 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,881.20. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 28,864 shares of company stock worth $723,573 over the last ninety days. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bfsg LLC increased its position in Yelp by 110.3% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Yelp by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Yelp by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 836 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yelp Company Profile

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.