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

Shares of Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $27.39, but opened at $25.98. Intel shares last traded at $25.80, with a volume of 35,658,448 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Intel from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Intel from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Intel from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Intel from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.88.

Intel Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $107.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.68 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.75 and a 200 day moving average of $21.62. 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 released 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 net margin of 35.32% and a negative return on equity of 3.27%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Intel Co. will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Intel by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,099,204 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $7,400,439,000 after acquiring an additional 6,143,164 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Intel by 2.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 197,958,739 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $4,644,112,000 after acquiring an additional 5,417,753 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Intel by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,488,444 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,909,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,978,346 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Intel by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 63,263,339 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,268,430,000 after acquiring an additional 4,793,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Intel during the fourth quarter worth about $1,246,569,000. 64.53% of the stock is currently 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.