LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) Earns Hold Rating from Needham & Company LLC

LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LPSN. Craig Hallum cut shares of LivePerson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $1.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of LivePerson from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $0.88.

LivePerson Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LPSN opened at $0.93 on Thursday. LivePerson has a 52 week low of $0.45 and a 52 week high of $2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.38 million, a P/E ratio of -0.61 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.14. 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 (NASDAQ:LPSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $73.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.06) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that LivePerson will post -0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 84,944 shares of LivePerson stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $0.85, for a total transaction of $72,202.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 9.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LivePerson

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 15,032 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in LivePerson in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Wolverine Trading LLC boosted its position in 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 during the period. Finally, Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in LivePerson by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,920 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 18,600 shares during the period. 79.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.