United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Stock Price Up 9.3% – Here’s Why

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC)’s share price rose 9.3% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $12.68 and last traded at $12.3840. Approximately 7,992,233 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 13,133,603 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on UMC. Bank of America cut United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

United Microelectronics Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $31.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $8.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.25 billion. United Microelectronics had a return on equity of 11.18% and a net margin of 17.08%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United Microelectronics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 50.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 8,403,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $64,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,486 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 4.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,388,868 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $56,008,000 after buying an additional 344,416 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 10.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,655,721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $40,438,000 after buying an additional 537,777 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 832.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 3,530,564 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,762,000 after buying an additional 3,151,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of United Microelectronics during the second quarter worth about $24,024,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

United Microelectronics Company Profile

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) is a Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry that provides wafer fabrication and related manufacturing services to a global customer base. Founded in 1980, the company operates as a pure-play foundry, producing integrated circuits for a range of customers including fabless semiconductor companies and integrated device manufacturers. UMC is publicly listed (NYSE: UMC) and focuses on high-reliability manufacturing rather than branding consumer products.

UMC’s core services encompass wafer fabrication using a portfolio of process technologies, with particular emphasis on mature and specialty nodes that support analog, power-management, radio-frequency (RF), and mixed-signal applications.