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

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

Institutional Trading of LivePerson

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in LivePerson by 3.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 402,345 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 15,032 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in LivePerson during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Wolverine Trading LLC boosted its position in LivePerson by 104.1% during the third quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 32,121 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 16,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in LivePerson by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,920 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 18,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LPSN. StockNews.com lowered LivePerson from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of LivePerson in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, LivePerson currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $0.88.

LivePerson Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LPSN traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $0.91. 1,225,059 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,152,226. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.12. LivePerson has a 52 week low of $0.45 and a 52 week high of $2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.86 million, a P/E ratio of -0.59 and a beta of 1.51.

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

LivePerson Company Profile

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.