The telehealth stock is eyeing another record close today
Telehealth name Livongo Health Inc (NASDAQ:LVGO) is up 0.8% at $149.30 this morning, in a valiant effort to push past a downgrade from J.P. Morgan Securities. The analyst knocked its rating down to "neutral" from "overweight," predicting that competitor Teladoc (TDOC) will eventually sweep the market. However, the broker did bestow LVGO with a hefty price-target hike -- all the way to $150 from $80 -- which could be contributing to some of this morning's upside.
Though the shares of LVGO have actually been consolidating right below the $150 mark for months, the security looks ready to grab its highest close on record, should some of these gains hold. The stock has been on a roll lately, stringing together eight consecutive monthly wins, with solid support at the 10- and 50-day moving averages.
A look back at analyst coverage shows most were optimistic coming into today, with nine at a buy or better, and just three saying "hold." A couple more price-target hikes could be on the horizon though. The 12-month consensus price target of $126.18 is a 14.8% premium to last night's close.
Short sellers are starting to hit the exits, too, with short interest down 3.2% in the last reporting period. There's still plenty of pent-up pessimism to be unwound, however. The 10 million shares sold short make up 17.6% of the stock's available float, and would take almost three days to cover, at its average daily pace of trading.