LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) Short Interest Update

LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 9,200,000 shares, a drop of 21.6% from the February 13th total of 11,740,000 shares. Approximately 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 modified their holdings of LPSN. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of LivePerson by 42.0% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 906,027 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,377,000 after buying an additional 267,827 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in LivePerson by 146.1% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 73,794 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 43,804 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in LivePerson in the fourth quarter worth $152,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of LivePerson in the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in LivePerson in the fourth quarter worth about $66,000. 79.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LivePerson Stock Down 12.7 %

NASDAQ:LPSN traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $0.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,570,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,159,788. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.24. LivePerson has a 1 year low of $0.45 and a 1 year high of $2.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1.23 and a 200-day moving average of $1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.08 million, a PE ratio of -0.62 and a beta of 1.51.

LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The technology company reported ($1.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($1.23). The company had revenue of $73.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.06) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that LivePerson will post -0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LPSN shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of LivePerson in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded LivePerson from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $0.88.

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.