Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Stock Price Up 11% on Insider Buying Activity

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) traded up 11% on Wednesday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock traded as high as $49.29 and last traded at $48.78. 200,227,181 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 34% from the average session volume of 149,034,172 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.93.

Specifically, EVP David Zinsner acquired 5,882 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $42.50 per share, for a total transaction of $249,985.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 247,392 shares in the company, valued at $10,514,160. This trade represents a 2.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on INTC. New Street Research increased their price target on Intel from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Intel from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Intel in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Intel from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Citic Securities raised Intel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $38.90 to $60.30 in a report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $45.65.

Key Intel News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Nvidia will use Intel for portions of 2028 GPU manufacturing, a potential multi-year revenue and credibility boost for Intel’s foundry plans. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst at Tigress (and other firms) pushed a new street-high price target (Tigress $66), and several shops raised targets or upgraded coverage, drawing fresh buy interest. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: EVP/CFO David Zinsner purchased ~5,882 shares near the recent dip, a signal some traders interpret as management confidence. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector momentum: broader chip-stock strength after strong reports from peers (e.g., Texas Instruments, ASML) is lifting sentiment across names including Intel, but sector strength doesn’t remove company-specific execution risk. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: PR/employee item: Intel will match a government contribution program for employees’ children — positive for morale but minimal direct revenue impact. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Primary headwind remains weak Q1 guidance and supply constraints — management said inventory was depleted and advanced-node yields are still ramping, which triggered last week’s steep sell-off. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst skepticism and downgrade risk persist (DZ Bank reiterated a sell; others warn execution/valuation risks and even $30 downside scenarios), keeping volatility elevated until yields/capacity improve. Read More.

Intel Stock Up 11.0%

The firm has a market cap of $243.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -609.67, a P/E/G ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The chip maker reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $13.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. Intel had a negative return on equity of 0.44% and a negative net margin of 0.51%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 EPS. Intel has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.000-0.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Intel Corporation will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Intel by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,332,433 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $52,246,000 after purchasing an additional 51,383 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Intel during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,579,378,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in Intel by 91.8% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 765,091 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $17,138,000 after buying an additional 366,092 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Intel by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 385,903,735 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $8,644,244,000 after purchasing an additional 8,513,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Intel by 100.1% during the 2nd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 247,660 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $5,548,000 after buying an additional 123,895 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.53% of the company’s stock.

About Intel

Intel Corporation, founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a leading global designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products. The company is historically notable for introducing the first commercial microprocessor and for driving the x86 architecture that underpins many personal computers and servers. Intel’s core business spans the design, fabrication and marketing of processors, chipsets and related components for a wide range of computing applications.

Intel’s product portfolio includes client and mobile processors marketed under brands such as Intel Core and Pentium, as well as high-performance Xeon processors for data centers and cloud infrastructure.