Raymond James Initiates Coverage on Yelp (NYSE:YELP)

Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Yelp (NYSE:YELP) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating on the local business review company’s stock.

YELP has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yelp from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Craig Hallum lowered their target price on shares of Yelp from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $41.75.

Yelp Price Performance

Shares of Yelp stock opened at $39.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.19 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.48 and its 200 day moving average is $42.82. Yelp has a 1 year low of $26.53 and a 1 year high of $48.99.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The local business review company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. The company had revenue of $342.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $341.83 million. Yelp had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 14.06%. Yelp’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Yelp will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yelp news, COO Joseph R. Nachman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $232,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 312,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,134,452.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.40, for a total transaction of $119,350.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 194,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,460,092.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $620,830. 7.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Yelp in the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Yelp by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 50,754 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $2,404,000 after buying an additional 16,711 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Yelp by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,170,459 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $55,410,000 after buying an additional 7,052 shares during the period. Prelude Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Yelp during the fourth quarter worth $230,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Yelp by 67.3% during the fourth quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 142,098 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $6,727,000 after buying an additional 57,168 shares during the period. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yelp Company Profile

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.