Bank of America Upgrades Intel Stock Rating

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) has received a positive upgrade from analysts at Bank of America. In a research report released to clients and investors on Thursday, the financial institution elevated Intel's stock rating from "underperform" to "neutral." Along with the rating change, Bank of America raised its price target for Intel shares from $19.00 to $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.89% based on Intel's previous closing price.

In addition to Bank of America's upgrade, other research firms have also recently provided insights on Intel's stock. For example, Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating for Intel shares on January 31st. Citigroup lowered its price target for the company from $22.00 to $21.00, while maintaining a "neutral" rating in a note from January 21st. Another firm, UBS Group, decreased its price objective from $26.00 to $23.00 and also set a "neutral" rating for Intel. Wells Fargo & Company similarly cut its target price to $25.00 while holding an "equal weight" rating as of January 31st. Meanwhile, Rosenblatt Securities maintained a "sell" rating, setting a $20.00 target price for Intel shares on January 30th.

Currently, there are four research analysts with a "sell" rating on Intel, twenty-eight analysts holding a "hold" rating, and only one analyst recommending a "buy". Overall, the consensus rating for the stock is "Hold," with a consensus price target of $27.04 according to data from MarketBeat.

Recent Performance of Intel Stock

On Thursday, Intel's shares opened at $20.68. The company has a market capitalization of $89.54 billion, with a P/E ratio of -4.72 and a beta of 1.02. Over the past year, Intel's stock has experienced a low of $18.51 and a high of $45.41. As of now, the fifty-day moving average price stands at $21.31, while the 200-day moving average price is $21.80. Furthermore, Intel has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.33, and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Intel's latest quarterly earnings report revealed that the chip maker posted an earnings per share (EPS) of ($0.02), falling short of analysts' predictions that estimated an EPS of $0.12 by a margin of ($0.14). The net margin of the company is currently at a negative 35.32%, and it has a negative return on equity of 3.27%. Looking ahead, analysts foresee Intel posting an EPS of -0.11 for the current year.

Institutional Investors and Their Influence on Intel

Several large investors have recently made changes to their stakes in Intel. For instance, Norges Bank acquired a new stake valued at approximately $1.25 billion in the fourth quarter. Similarly, Two Sigma Advisers LP entered a new investment in Intel shares, valued at $289.75 million during the same time frame. Notable moves were also made by Assenagon Asset Management S.A., which increased its stake in the company by 264.0%, now holding about 19.6 million shares worth $393.32 million after adding over 14 million shares last quarter.

UBS AM, a distinct unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC, raised its holdings in Intel by 28.2% during the third quarter, now owning approximately 58.5 million shares, valued at about $1.37 billion after increasing its stake by over 12 million shares. In addition, Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position worth around $237.46 million in the fourth quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own roughly 64.53% of Intel's stock.

Company Profile of Intel

Intel Corporation is a leading company that designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells computing and related products around the world. The company operates through various segments, including Client Computing Group, Data Center and AI, Network and Edge, Mobileye, and Intel Foundry Services. Its wide-ranging product portfolio includes central processing units (CPUs), chipsets, system-on-chips (SoCs), and multichip packages. Additionally, Intel produces mobile and desktop processors, graphics processing units (GPUs), domain-specific accelerators, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), memory and storage solutions, as well as various connectivity and networking semiconductor products.

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