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

Key Points

• Intel experienced a significant spike in options trading, with traders purchasing 735,494 call options, marking a 30% increase over the average volume.
• Analysts' opinions on Intel are mixed, with Barclays raising its target price to $25.00, while Citigroup, Stifel Nicolaus, and Rosenblatt Securities maintain lower target prices and a generally skeptical outlook.
• Institutional investors are actively increasing their stakes in Intel, with Vanguard Group growing its position by 2.3%, highlighting ongoing interest from major investment firms.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders bought 735,494 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 30% compared to the average volume of 566,588 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

INTC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Intel from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating and set a $29.00 price objective (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Intel from $21.00 to $24.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "sell" rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "sell" rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Intel presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $26.19.

Intel Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INTC opened at $37.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.26 billion, a PE ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.72. Intel has a 12 month low of $17.67 and a 12 month high of $37.57.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The chip maker reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.11). Intel had a negative return on equity of 3.78% and a negative net margin of 38.64%.The firm had revenue of $12.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.02 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Intel has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.000-0.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Intel will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Intel by 2.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 385,903,735 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $8,644,244,000 after buying an additional 8,513,298 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Intel by 1.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 203,617,629 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $4,561,035,000 after buying an additional 3,168,824 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Intel by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 97,563,079 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $2,174,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,773 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in Intel by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 80,298,180 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $1,798,679,000 after purchasing an additional 3,313,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Intel during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,579,378,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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