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

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 1,174,752 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 230% compared to the average daily volume of 356,497 call options.

Intel Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of INTC opened at $23.60 on Friday. Intel has a 1 year low of $18.51 and a 1 year high of $46.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.73. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The chip maker reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.14). Intel had a negative net margin of 35.32% and a negative return on equity of 3.27%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Intel will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on INTC shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Intel from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Intel in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Intel from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC upgraded Intel from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of INTC. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Intel by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 25,742 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Intel by 305.2% during the 4th quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 909,670 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $18,239,000 after buying an additional 685,170 shares in the last quarter. Westbourne Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Intel during the fourth quarter valued at about $341,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Intel during the fourth quarter valued at about $62,654,000. Finally, One68 Global Capital LLC bought a new stake in Intel during the fourth quarter valued at about $501,000. Institutional investors own 64.53% of the company’s stock.

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.