LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) Short Interest Down 21.6% in February

LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) saw a significant decrease in short interest in 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 stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Institutional Trading of LivePerson

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in LivePerson by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 402,345 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 15,032 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in LivePerson in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Wolverine Trading LLC raised its stake in LivePerson by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 32,121 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 16,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in LivePerson by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,920 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 18,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

LivePerson Stock Performance

Shares of LPSN traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $1.08. The stock had a trading volume of 944,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,165,183. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.24. The firm has a market cap of $97.48 million, a PE ratio of -0.71 and a beta of 1.51. LivePerson has a one year low of $0.45 and a one year high of $2.08.

LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The technology company reported ($1.27) earnings per share (EPS) 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 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that LivePerson will post -0.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LPSN has been the subject of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of LivePerson in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of LivePerson from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LivePerson currently has an average 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.