Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 728,404 Shares of United Microelectronics Corporation $UMC

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its holdings in United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,524,036 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 728,404 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in United Microelectronics were worth $106,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UMC. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in United Microelectronics by 832.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 3,530,564 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,762,000 after buying an additional 3,151,936 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 50.7% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 8,403,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $64,283,000 after buying an additional 2,826,486 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics during the third quarter worth approximately $21,235,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,197,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised 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 last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

United Microelectronics Stock Up 3.1%

United Microelectronics stock opened at $16.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $40.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.41. United Microelectronics Corporation has a 1-year low of $6.56 and a 1-year high of $16.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 13.67%. Research analysts anticipate that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on UMC. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $8.60 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $8.60.

About United Microelectronics

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.