Sirius Stock Could Rock Into the New Year

SIRI stock is up after an analyst upgrade

The shares of Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) are up 0.9% at $5.76, on an upgrade from J.P. Morgan Securities. The brokerage firm raised its rating to "overweight" from "underweight," and hiked its price target to $7 from $6 -- a near 23% premium from current levels -- saying SIRI's recent pullback is a buying opportunity.

Despite ending 2018 with a 6.5% gain, it's been a rough few months for SIRI stock. The stock suffered a bear gap in September on plans to buy sector peer Pandora (P) for about $3.5 billion, and subsequently found a stiff ceiling in the $6.40 area.

Analysts are currently split on SIRI, with five "strong buys," compared to three "holds" and two "strong sells." Meanwhile, the consensus 12-month price target sits at $6.93 -- in line with J.P. Morgan Securities' new target.

Elsewhere, short sellers have been circling Sirius XM, with short interest increasing by 5.9% in the past two reporting periods. The 214.5 million shares sold short represents a whopping 18.9% of the stock's total available float.