Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Now Covered by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America started coverage on shares of Yelp (NYSE:YELP) in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating and a $30.00 target price on the local business review company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on YELP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Yelp from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Yelp in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Yelp from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Yelp from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yelp currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $37.20.

Yelp Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of YELP stock opened at $34.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05 and a beta of 1.33. Yelp has a 1-year low of $32.56 and a 1-year high of $48.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.95.

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

Insider Activity at Yelp

In other news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 145,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,080,985. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CTO Sam Eaton sold 10,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $377,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 145,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,080,985. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 owns 281,842 shares in the company, valued at $9,371,246.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 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 Investors Weigh In On Yelp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YELP. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yelp by 4.3% in the 2nd 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 increased its position 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 period. Goodnow Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Goodnow Investment Group LLC now owns 641,660 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $30,376,000 after purchasing an additional 7,940 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Yelp by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 586,820 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $21,683,000 after purchasing an additional 4,547 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Yelp by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 567,567 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $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.