Yelp Inc. (YELP) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) in a research note published on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on YELP. B. Riley restated a neutral rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research note on Monday, May 15th. J P Morgan Chase & Co restated an overweight rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Yelp in a research note on Friday. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Jefferies Group LLC raised their target price on Yelp to $43.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Capital set a $21.00 target price on Yelp and gave the company a sell rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Finally, BidaskClub cut Yelp from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Yelp (YELP) traded up 27.67% during trading on Friday, hitting $40.05. The company had a trading volume of 16,906,184 shares. Yelp has a 1-year low of $26.93 and a 1-year high of $43.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 541.22 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.37. Yelp also was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 62,135 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,632% compared to the typical volume of 3,587 put options.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The local business review company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $209.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.89 million. Yelp had a return on equity of 1.64% and a net margin of 1.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Yelp will post ($0.08) EPS for the current year.

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Yelp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, August 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the local business review company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

In other news, CFO Charles Baker sold 12,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total transaction of $343,728.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 116,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,299,014.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Laurence Wilson sold 3,128 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total value of $88,303.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 181,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,363.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,251 shares of company stock worth $1,534,950 over the last three months. 10.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YELP. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the second quarter worth about $504,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the second quarter worth about $5,722,000. ARS Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 27.2% in the second quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 227,493 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $6,829,000 after buying an additional 48,679 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Yelp during the second quarter worth about $251,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA raised its stake in shares of Yelp by 2.0% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 100,798 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.20% of the company’s stock.

Yelp Company Profile

Yelp Inc (Yelp) connects people with local businesses by bringing ‘word of mouth’ online and providing a platform for businesses and consumers to engage and transact. The Company offers local business review sites. Yelp provides a platform for consumers to share their everyday local business experiences with other consumers by posting reviews, tips, photos and videos, and to engage directly with businesses, through reviews, its Request-A-Quote and Message the Business features, and by completing transactions on the Yelp Platform.