Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

YELP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yelp from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.88.

Yelp Stock Performance

NYSE:YELP opened at $21.65 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.22. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.53. Yelp has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $39.72.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $361.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Yelp will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total transaction of $29,664.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 267,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,881.20. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 approximately $5,698,975. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 28,864 shares of company stock valued at $723,573. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Yelp by 157.8% in 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 in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $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 holdings 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 acquiring an additional 5,210 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 21.8% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,377 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $1,458,000 after acquiring an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Yelp in the first quarter valued at $56,000. 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.