United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.60.

UMC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded United Microelectronics from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research raised United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Arete Research raised United Microelectronics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Thursday, May 28th.

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UMC. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position 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 valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 59,349 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in United Microelectronics by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,655,721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $40,438,000 after buying an additional 537,777 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in United Microelectronics by 25.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 6,028 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in United Microelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $108,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in United Microelectronics by 37.9% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 6,793 shares during the period. 5.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

United Microelectronics Stock Down 2.4%

UMC opened at $19.98 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.60. The company has a market capitalization of $50.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.67, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.59. United Microelectronics has a 1-year low of $6.64 and a 1-year high of $28.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.00%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that United Microelectronics will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were issued a dividend of $0.4122 per share. This is an increase from United Microelectronics’s previous annual dividend of $0.37. This represents a yield of 166.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. United Microelectronics’s payout ratio is presently 28.97%.

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.