LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 9,200,000 shares, a decline of 21.6% from the February 13th total of 11,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 11.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in LivePerson during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of LivePerson by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 19,006 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC increased its position in shares of LivePerson by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 32,121 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 16,385 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in LivePerson in the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in LivePerson in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

LivePerson Price Performance

NASDAQ LPSN traded down $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $0.91. 1,225,059 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,152,226. The company has a market cap of $81.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.59 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.24, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. LivePerson has a 1-year low of $0.45 and a 1-year high of $2.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.12.

LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The technology company reported ($1.27) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($1.23). The business had revenue of $73.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.12 million. LivePerson had a negative return on equity of 111.48% and a negative net margin of 18.72%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.06) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that LivePerson will post -0.41 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered LivePerson from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of LivePerson in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $0.88.

About LivePerson

LivePerson, Inc engages in conversational artificial intelligence. It enables brands to leverage the Conversational Cloud's intelligence engine to connect with consumers through an integrated suite of mobile and online business messaging technologies. The company offers the Conversational Cloud, an enterprise-class digital customer conversation platform, which enables businesses and consumers to connect through conversational channels, such as voice, in-app, and mobile messaging.