Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

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

YELP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Yelp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research cut Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $33.00 price target on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Evercore ISI set a $45.00 price objective on Yelp and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yelp has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $34.60.

Yelp Price Performance

YELP stock traded down $3.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.91. 1,969,381 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 825,167. Yelp has a 1 year low of $28.70 and a 1 year high of $41.72. The company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.39 million. Yelp had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. Yelp has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Yelp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 10,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.58, for a total value of $335,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 160,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,379,381.68. The trade was a 5.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.98, for a total value of $39,576.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 201,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,638,874. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 39,100 shares of company stock worth $1,254,036. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its holdings in shares of Yelp by 94.0% during the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 91,000 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,839,000 after buying an additional 44,100 shares in the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 19.6% in the third quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH now owns 23,702 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,876 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Yelp by 3.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 439,525 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $13,713,000 after acquiring an additional 15,439 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Yelp by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 271,827 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $8,481,000 after acquiring an additional 16,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Yelp by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,402,938 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $74,972,000 after acquiring an additional 309,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.