United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Strong Sell” from Analysts

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) has been assigned an average rating of “Strong Sell” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $8.60.

UMC has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised United Microelectronics from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $8.60 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in UMC. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in United Microelectronics by 873.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,464,312 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,492,466 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 344,416 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in United Microelectronics by 10.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,655,721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $40,438,000 after purchasing an additional 537,777 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in United Microelectronics by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,511,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $43,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435,780 shares during the period. 5.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

United Microelectronics Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of United Microelectronics stock opened at $17.17 on Friday. United Microelectronics has a fifty-two week low of $6.56 and a fifty-two week high of $17.43. The firm has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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