Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $43.00 to $38.00. The stock had previously closed at $35.11, but opened at $31.78. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Intel shares last traded at $31.42, with a volume of 35,288,315 shares trading hands.

INTC has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Intel from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Intel from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Intel in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Intel from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Intel from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Intel has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intel news, CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger bought 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $42.74 per share, for a total transaction of $119,672.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 31,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,336,693.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger bought 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $42.74 per share, for a total transaction of $119,672.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 31,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,336,693.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger purchased 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $43.36 per share, with a total value of $130,080.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 28,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,234,676. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of Intel by 13.4% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,985 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Intel by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 111,005 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $3,946,000 after buying an additional 34,739 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Intel by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,751 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Intel by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 53,308 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after buying an additional 2,806 shares during the period. Finally, TFG Advisers LLC grew its stake in Intel by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 14,521 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. 64.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Intel Trading Down 9.2 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.79 billion, a PE ratio of 81.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.00.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The chip maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $15.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.16 billion. Intel had a return on equity of 1.64% and a net margin of 3.11%. Intel’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Intel Co. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intel Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. Intel’s payout ratio is 128.21%.

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.