Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Downgraded to Hold at Benchmark

Benchmark cut shares of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on INTC. Wolfe Research upgraded Intel from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Intel in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a hold rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Intel from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Intel from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of Intel from $40.00 to $32.50 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Intel presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $32.92.

Intel Stock Performance

NASDAQ INTC traded down $0.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 102,369,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,954,605. Intel has a 12 month low of $19.29 and a 12 month high of $51.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.38 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The chip maker reported $0.02 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 the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. Intel had a return on equity of 1.82% and a net margin of 1.77%. Intel’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.05) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Intel will post 0.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intel Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Intel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INTC. Slow Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Intel by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 54,708 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $2,749,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Intel by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 25,315 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,272,000 after purchasing an additional 5,759 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Intel by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 98,320 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $4,764,000 after buying an additional 2,915 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Intel by 65.2% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 69,096 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $3,052,000 after buying an additional 27,274 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intel by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 17,585 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474 shares during the last quarter. 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.