United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $18.90, but opened at $19.86. United Microelectronics shares last traded at $20.4320, with a volume of 1,840,401 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UMC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane restated an “underperform” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $8.60.

United Microelectronics Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $14.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.61.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 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 $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 13.67%. Analysts forecast that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Microelectronics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Arax Advisory Partners raised its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 583.7% in the 4th quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 8,656 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 8,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498 shares in the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.