Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC)

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 49,689 call options on the company. This is an increase of 468% compared to the average daily volume of 8,751 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UMC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised United Microelectronics from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $8.60 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $8.60.

United Microelectronics Stock Performance

UMC stock traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.00. The company had a trading volume of 16,276,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,989,676. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $55.39 billion, a PE ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.41. United Microelectronics has a 12 month low of $6.56 and a 12 month high of $23.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.10.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during 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%. On average, analysts forecast that United Microelectronics will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 1,794.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 62,656 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 59,349 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $40,438,000 after purchasing an additional 537,777 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in United Microelectronics by 25.8% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 6,028 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in United Microelectronics during the second quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 37.9% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 6,793 shares during the period. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.