Intel Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:INTC)

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 697,868 call options on the company. This is an increase of 50% compared to the average volume of 464,892 call options.

Intel Stock Performance

NASDAQ INTC opened at $22.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.12 and a beta of 1.13. Intel has a twelve month low of $18.51 and a twelve month high of $40.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The chip maker reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.14). Intel had a negative return on equity of 3.27% and a negative net margin of 35.32%. Sell-side analysts expect that Intel will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Roth Mkm reduced their target price on Intel from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Intel in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Intel from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Intel from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.58.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Finley Financial LLC bought a new position in Intel during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Intel during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Intel in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in Intel in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Keystone Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Intel during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 64.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Intel

Intel Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells computing and related products and services worldwide. It operates through Client Computing Group, Data Center and AI, Network and Edge, Mobileye, and Intel Foundry Services segments. The company's products portfolio comprises central processing units and chipsets, system-on-chips (SoCs), and multichip packages; mobile and desktop processors; hardware products comprising graphics processing units (GPUs), domain-specific accelerators, and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); and memory and storage, connectivity and networking, and other semiconductor products.