Athenahealth Slides After Analyst Cuts Rating

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of athenahealth Inc. slipped Friday following a downgrade from a Raymond James analyst, who said the clinical software maker's improved share price now accounts for improving business conditions.

Shares of athenahealth have advanced 62.6 percent since the end of March, and its results in the first and second quarters of this year were about equal to Wall Street forecasts. Analyst Alexander Draper said positive factors such as better profit margins, improved sales of athenaClinicals practice management software, and greater adoption of athenaCollector billing software.

Draper downgraded the stock to "Market Perform" from "Outperform," and removed his price target of $40 per share. The stock nearly matched that price target on Thursday, when it reached an annual high of $39.92. He does not expect the stock to gain ground in the next three to six months.

In Friday morning trading, shares fell $1.81, or 4.6 percent, to $37.22.