Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Coverage Initiated at Wolfe Research

Research analysts at Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Yelp (NYSE:YELP) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “peer perform” rating on the local business review company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James began coverage on Yelp in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Craig Hallum lowered their price target on Yelp from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Yelp from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.71.

Yelp Stock Up 0.2 %

YELP stock opened at $37.77 on Tuesday. Yelp has a twelve month low of $34.76 and a twelve month high of $48.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.06 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $36.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.54.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The local business review company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.16. Yelp had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $332.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $333.66 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yelp will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yelp news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 26,718 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.62, for a total value of $978,413.16. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 167,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,069.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 26,718 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.62, for a total transaction of $978,413.16. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 167,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,069.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $253,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 288,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,467,634.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,068 shares of company stock valued at $1,997,590 in the last quarter. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Yelp by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,994,129 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $94,402,000 after purchasing an additional 13,790 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 65.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,215,355 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $57,535,000 after acquiring an additional 482,242 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Yelp by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,019,944 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $48,284,000 after acquiring an additional 12,511 shares during the period. Goodnow Investment Group LLC grew its position in Yelp by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Goodnow Investment Group LLC now owns 641,660 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $30,376,000 after acquiring an additional 7,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Yelp by 10.6% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 512,586 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $20,196,000 after purchasing an additional 49,081 shares during the period. 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.