LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.08.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LPSN shares. Roth Capital lowered LivePerson from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Mizuho decreased their target price on LivePerson from $3.00 to $2.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. B. Riley decreased their target price on LivePerson from $3.75 to $2.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Roth Mkm lowered LivePerson from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on LivePerson from $3.50 to $1.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LivePerson news, Director William Wesemann acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $1.00 per share, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 374,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $374,835. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 7,834 shares of company stock worth $6,839 in the last quarter. 9.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in LivePerson by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in LivePerson by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 58,527 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 1,674 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in LivePerson by 61.5% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,407 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in LivePerson by 407.4% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in LivePerson by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 3,289 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

LivePerson Stock Performance

Shares of LivePerson stock opened at $0.56 on Friday. LivePerson has a 52 week low of $0.55 and a 52 week high of $6.41. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.51. The firm has a market cap of $49.14 million, a PE ratio of -0.44 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.63.

LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $95.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.54 million. Equities analysts forecast that LivePerson will post -0.68 earnings per share for the current 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.