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

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 633,213 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 79% compared to the typical daily volume of 354,260 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on INTC. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Intel from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Intel from $35.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Daiwa America upgraded Intel to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Argus lowered Intel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.04.

Intel Price Performance

Shares of INTC traded up $1.25 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $20.91. 124,782,359 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,945,445. The company has a market cap of $89.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Intel has a fifty-two week low of $18.51 and a fifty-two week high of $51.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.98 and its 200 day moving average is $31.60.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The chip maker reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $12.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. Intel had a net margin of 1.77% and a return on equity of 1.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.05) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Intel will post -0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intel Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Intel’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger purchased 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.16 per share, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,975 shares in the company, valued at $765,576. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Intel by 543.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,384,507 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $1,878,572,000 after acquiring an additional 31,575,084 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Intel by 16.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 112,093,582 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $4,951,174,000 after purchasing an additional 15,475,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Intel by 60.5% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 34,591,800 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,071,308,000 after purchasing an additional 13,035,566 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers lifted its holdings in Intel by 86.2% during the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 12,642,316 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $391,533,000 after buying an additional 5,851,098 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Intel in the second quarter valued at about $162,592,000. 64.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.