Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Shares Gap Down to $34.44

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $34.44, but opened at $33.39. Yelp shares last traded at $33.36, with a volume of 88,942 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YELP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Yelp in a report on Monday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Yelp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.20.

Yelp Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.04.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The local business review company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $357.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $352.98 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Yelp Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,080,985. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yelp news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 145,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,080,985. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $232,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 281,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,371,246.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,776 shares of company stock valued at $863,590 over the last quarter. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YELP. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 4.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,695,536 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $99,600,000 after buying an additional 111,936 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,994,129 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $94,402,000 after acquiring an additional 13,790 shares during the last quarter. Goodnow Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 1.3% during the fourth 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. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 0.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 586,820 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $21,683,000 after purchasing an additional 4,547 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Yelp by 1.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 567,567 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $20,972,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 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.