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

Shares of United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.69, but opened at $9.09. United Microelectronics shares last traded at $9.0450, with a volume of 1,134,922 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on UMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded United Microelectronics from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $8.60 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $8.60.

United Microelectronics Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 1.16.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. United Microelectronics had a return on equity of 11.45% and a net margin of 17.60%.The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics in the second quarter valued at $27,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of United Microelectronics in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 313.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,265 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 3,234 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of United Microelectronics in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners increased its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 583.7% in the fourth quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 8,656 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 7,390 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

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.