Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $20.68, but opened at $23.50. Intel shares last traded at $24.06, with a volume of 72,431,456 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on INTC. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Intel from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Intel from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Intel from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Intel from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-eight have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.04.

Intel Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $21.45 and its 200 day moving average is $21.84. The firm has a market cap of $104.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.49 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The chip maker reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.14). Intel had a negative return on equity of 3.27% and a negative net margin of 35.32%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Intel Co. will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INTC. Finley Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Intel in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Intel in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Intel in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in Intel in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Keystone Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Intel in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. 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.