Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Intel from buy to hold, adding to a mixed analyst picture on the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, the broader analyst consensus remains Hold, with an average price target of $89.66 and a wide range of views from bullish to bearish firms.
• Intel recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.29 EPS on $13.58 billion in revenue, while shares traded at $128.32 amid strong year-long gains and elevated volatility.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Intel from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. New Street Research started coverage on shares of Intel in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Intel in a research report on Thursday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Intel from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Intel from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.66.

Intel Stock Performance

Shares of Intel stock opened at $128.32 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $109.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.89. The company has a market capitalization of $644.94 billion, a PE ratio of -206.96 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Intel has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $141.45.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $13.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.32 billion. Intel had a positive return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 5.90%.The business's revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Intel has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Intel will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Intel

In other news, EVP Boise April Miller sold 40,256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.53, for a total transaction of $4,006,679.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 105,077 shares in the company, valued at $10,458,313.81. This represents a 27.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Intel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 404,522,308 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $14,926,873,000 after acquiring an additional 13,692,624 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Intel by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,536,784 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $7,695,007,000 after purchasing an additional 5,714,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Intel by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 104,060,268 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $3,839,833,000 after acquiring an additional 17,557,147 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Intel by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 101,931,512 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $3,744,406,000 after purchasing an additional 3,124,798 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Intel by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 65,249,269 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $2,407,698,000 after buying an additional 11,056,090 shares during the period. 64.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Intel News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs began coverage of Intel with a neutral rating and a $150 price target, reinforcing the view that the stock still has upside after its big run. Goldman Sachs coverage on Intel
• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s blockbuster earnings and upbeat outlook for smartphones and PCs helped boost sentiment across semiconductors, including Intel, AMD, Arm, and Qualcomm. Micron article
• Positive Sentiment: Articles highlighting Intel’s turnaround, foundry push, and diversification away from Taiwan-based manufacturing are supporting the bullish narrative that Intel could gain share in advanced chips over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Intel remains one of the most heavily watched stocks, with multiple articles focused on whether the recent rally is justified after the shares have already surged sharply this year.
• Neutral Sentiment: Congressional-trading and political headlines, including references to Intel-linked holdings and U.S. chip policy, are adding visibility but do not directly change near-term fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: Some market commentary says the valuation has run ahead of fundamentals, and broader chip stocks have also seen periods of renewed selling pressure, which could limit further upside if sentiment cools.

About Intel

Intel Corporation, founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a leading global designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products. The company is historically notable for introducing the first commercial microprocessor and for driving the x86 architecture that underpins many personal computers and servers. Intel's core business spans the design, fabrication and marketing of processors, chipsets and related components for a wide range of computing applications.

Intel's product portfolio includes client and mobile processors marketed under brands such as Intel Core and Pentium, as well as high-performance Xeon processors for data centers and cloud infrastructure.

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