Benchmark Reaffirms Hold Rating for Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Benchmark in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on INTC. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Intel from $36.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Intel from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on Intel from $35.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Intel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Intel from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.80.

Intel Price Performance

NASDAQ INTC opened at $21.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $92.02 billion, a PE ratio of 93.57 and a beta of 1.03. Intel has a 52-week low of $18.51 and a 52-week high of $51.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.12.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Intel had a net margin of 1.77% and a return on equity of 1.78%. The company had revenue of $12.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.05) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Intel will post -0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger bought 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.16 per share, with a total value of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $765,576. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Intel by 16.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 112,093,582 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $4,951,174,000 after buying an additional 15,475,631 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Intel by 60.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 34,591,800 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,071,308,000 after purchasing an additional 13,035,566 shares in the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Intel by 86.2% during the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 12,642,316 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $391,533,000 after purchasing an additional 5,851,098 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of Intel in the second quarter valued at approximately $162,592,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Intel by 2,681.1% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,431,749 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $137,251,000 after purchasing an additional 4,272,395 shares during the last quarter. 64.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.