United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.60.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of United Microelectronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research report on Thursday, January 29th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UMC. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in United Microelectronics by 873.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,464,312 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $74,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,492,466 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in United Microelectronics by 832.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 3,530,564 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,762,000 after acquiring an additional 3,151,936 shares during the period. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in United Microelectronics during the second quarter worth approximately $24,024,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 50.7% in the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 8,403,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $64,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in United Microelectronics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,235,000. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

United Microelectronics Trading Down 0.5%

UMC traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $8.98. The stock had a trading volume of 681,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,505,814. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.08. United Microelectronics has a 1-year low of $5.71 and a 1-year high of $12.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 11.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that United Microelectronics will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.