Short Interest in Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) Grows By 10.7%

Intel Co. (NASDAQ:INTC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 116,390,000 shares, a growth of 10.7% from the December 15th total of 105,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 68,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INTC has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Intel from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Intel from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $28.00) on shares of Intel in a report on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Intel from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.88.

Intel Stock Up 9.3 %

Shares of INTC stock traded up $1.82 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.49. The company had a trading volume of 163,396,661 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,908,592. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.32. Intel has a one year low of $18.51 and a one year high of $50.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The chip maker reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.44). The firm had revenue of $13.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.02 billion. Intel had a negative net margin of 29.42% and a negative return on equity of 1.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Intel will post -0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Intel

In related news, EVP Michelle Johnston Holthaus sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,104,708. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Intel by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,373 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 3,116 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its position in Intel by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 194,173 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $3,819,000 after acquiring an additional 26,671 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Intel by 128.1% during the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,840 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 15,074 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Intel by 209.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 485,672 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $9,738,000 after purchasing an additional 929,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Intel during the 4th quarter worth about $225,000. 64.53% of the stock is currently 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.