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

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 697,868 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 50% compared to the average volume of 464,892 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on INTC. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Intel from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup decreased their target price on Intel from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.04.

Intel Stock Performance

INTC traded up $0.45 on Thursday, reaching $22.43. The company had a trading volume of 240,880,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 75,509,409. The company’s fifty day moving average is $22.36 and its 200 day moving average is $22.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $97.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.12 and a beta of 1.13. Intel has a fifty-two week low of $18.51 and a fifty-two week high of $41.65.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The chip maker reported ($0.02) earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Intel will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.