Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $20.97, but opened at $21.98. Intel shares last traded at $21.71, with a volume of 48,766,741 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on INTC shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a report on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Intel in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Intel from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group dropped 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. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.60.

Intel Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.70. 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 company has a market cap of $95.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.04 and a beta of 1.08.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last issued its quarterly 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, equities analysts predict that Intel Co. will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Intel by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,510,098 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $2,162,891,000 after purchasing an additional 4,103,553 shares during the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC lifted its stake in Intel by 211.6% in the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 28,898 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $579,000 after purchasing an additional 19,625 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Intel by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,827,123 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $113,244,000 after purchasing an additional 204,200 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Intel in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $276,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Intel by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,635,400 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $296,426,000 after purchasing an additional 31,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.