Traders Purchase Large Volume of Intel Call Options (NASDAQ:INTC)

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 633,213 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 79% compared to the average volume of 354,260 call options.

Intel Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INTC opened at $21.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.45 and a 200-day moving average of $31.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Intel has a 12 month low of $18.51 and a 12 month high of $51.28.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The chip maker reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $12.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. Intel had a return on equity of 1.78% and a net margin of 1.77%. Intel’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.05) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Intel will post -0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. Intel’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on INTC shares. Daiwa America raised shares of Intel to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Intel from $35.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Intel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Intel from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Roth Mkm reduced their target price on shares of Intel from $35.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intel

In other Intel news, CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger purchased 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.16 per share, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 37,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $765,576. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 389,098,435 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $17,186,478,000 after purchasing an additional 3,310,528 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 112,093,582 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $4,951,174,000 after purchasing an additional 15,475,631 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 77,822,587 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $2,410,166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,697,550 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 39,841,750 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $1,759,811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,457,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,513,226 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $1,161,779,000 after purchasing an additional 487,191 shares during the last quarter. 64.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.