LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the technology company’s stock.

LPSN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Roth Capital cut LivePerson from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on LivePerson from $3.00 to $1.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm cut LivePerson from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price target for the company from $6.00 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. B. Riley cut their price target on LivePerson from $3.75 to $2.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on LivePerson from $3.50 to $1.50 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $2.58.

LivePerson Price Performance

Shares of LivePerson stock opened at $0.51 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.33. LivePerson has a 12 month low of $0.45 and a 12 month high of $6.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.72 million, a P/E ratio of -0.40 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.63, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by ($0.06). LivePerson had a negative net margin of 24.99% and a negative return on equity of 47.71%. The firm had revenue of $95.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.54 million. As a group, analysts predict that LivePerson will post -0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William Wesemann purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $1.00 per share, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 374,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $374,835. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Alex Kroman sold 65,828 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.51, for a total value of $33,572.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 120,047 shares in the company, valued at $61,223.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Wesemann acquired 100,000 shares of LivePerson stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $1.00 per share, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 374,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $374,835. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 73,662 shares of company stock worth $40,411. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LivePerson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of LivePerson by 12.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 93,084 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 10,027 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of LivePerson by 77.0% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,737,186 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,758,000 after purchasing an additional 755,945 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of LivePerson by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 59,914 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 29,957 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of LivePerson by 2.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 237,258 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 5,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of LivePerson by 13.4% during the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 152,112 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 18,030 shares during the last quarter. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.