United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $16.06, but opened at $14.35. United Microelectronics shares last traded at $13.8380, with a volume of 3,917,431 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on UMC shares. Wall Street Zen lowered United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Arete Research upgraded United Microelectronics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. HSBC upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $37.42 to $33.76 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded United Microelectronics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $36.79.

United Microelectronics Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.76.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.02). United Microelectronics had a net margin of 31.96% and a return on equity of 20.12%. The company had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.33 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UMC. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in United Microelectronics by 2.9% during the third quarter. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC now owns 18,333 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in United Microelectronics by 27.8% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,313 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in United Microelectronics by 5.0% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 15,957 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in United Microelectronics by 9.9% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 8,483 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 6.5% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,875 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

United Microelectronics Company Profile

United Microelectronics Corp. (NYSE:UMC) is a Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits for other companies. As a pure-play foundry, UMC focuses on producing chips designed by customers rather than marketing its own branded semiconductor products.

The company provides wafer fabrication services across a range of process technologies, with particular expertise in specialty applications such as display driver ICs, automotive semiconductors, connectivity products, image sensors, power management components and embedded memory.