Traders Purchase Large Volume of Intel Call Options (NASDAQ:INTC)

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 617,741 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 36% compared to the typical volume of 454,501 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on INTC. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on shares of Intel from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Intel from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Intel from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Intel from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Intel from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.04.

Intel Stock Performance

Shares of INTC stock opened at $25.69 on Tuesday. Intel has a 12 month low of $18.51 and a 12 month high of $45.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.24 billion, a PE ratio of -5.87 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The chip maker reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.14). Intel had a negative return on equity of 3.27% and a negative net margin of 35.32%. Analysts forecast that Intel will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Intel in the 4th quarter valued at $1,246,569,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Intel in the 4th quarter worth $289,752,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Intel by 264.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,617,088 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $393,323,000 after purchasing an additional 14,227,458 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Intel by 28.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 58,469,412 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $1,371,692,000 after purchasing an additional 12,865,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in Intel during the fourth quarter worth about $237,457,000. Institutional investors own 64.53% of the company’s stock.

Intel Company Profile

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.