Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Price Target Lowered to $22.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $30.00 to $22.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the local business review company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential upside of 6.51% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on YELP. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yelp from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price target on Yelp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price objective on Yelp in a research report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.50.

Yelp Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of YELP stock traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $20.66. 1,810,598 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,329,087. Yelp has a 52-week low of $19.61 and a 52-week high of $41.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.27.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The local business review company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $359.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $358.70 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 9.94%.The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Yelp

In other news, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.20, for a total value of $150,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 964,827 shares in the company, valued at $23,348,813.40. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.40, for a total value of $32,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 190,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,230,084.60. This represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 261,106 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,184. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yelp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Yelp in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Bfsg LLC lifted its position in shares of Yelp by 110.3% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Yelp by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Yelp by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Yelp by 1,102.0% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,202 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Yelp

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.