ATVI Stock Gets Price-Target Bump as it Rides Chart Support

Short interest on Activision Blizzard is at a 3-year high

Video game stock Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) has managed to post a roughly 19% year-to-date gain, despite spending most of the year moving sideways, with most of the gains coming from a late-August rise. Since then, the shares have been mostly trading around the $55 area, while an earnings pullback a month ago found strong support from the 80-day moving average, a trendline that's carried the stock higher since.

Today, ATVI is trading at $55.11, after SunTrust Robinson moved its price target up to $61 from $59, territory not charted in over a year. Most other analysts also have bullish ratings on the Call of Duty creator, but there's a growing bearish bias elsewhere on the Street to take note of.

Specifically, short interest rose another 8.4% in the most recent reporting period, part of a longer-term grind higher for this figure. In fact, short interest of 24.65 million shares marks a three-year high on Activision Blizzard, meaning traders are betting against the stock at a high rate.

At the same time, peak open interest in the front-month December series sits at the 60-strike call, and data from the major exchanges shows buy-to-open activity here. As such, these bulls are betting on ATVI shares rising above $60 in the coming weeks.