Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $24.28, but opened at $23.01. Yelp shares last traded at $23.1750, with a volume of 84,759 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on YELP shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Yelp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Yelp from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yelp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $28.00 price target on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.88.

Yelp Stock Up 0.3%

The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.18.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The local business review company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $361.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.47 million. Yelp had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 20.19%. Yelp’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yelp Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yelp

In other Yelp news, CFO David A. Schwarzbach sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $187,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 216,800 shares in the company, valued at $5,420,000. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Saldanha sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total transaction of $29,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 267,835 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,881.20. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 33,707 shares of company stock worth $819,145 in the last ninety days. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yelp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,158 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yelp by 181.3% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Yelp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. 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.