United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) has been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and one has given 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.

Several research firms recently issued reports on UMC. 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 report on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th.

United Microelectronics Price Performance

United Microelectronics stock opened at $18.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $47.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.49, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.60. United Microelectronics has a 12 month low of $6.56 and a 12 month high of $28.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.46.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter. United Microelectronics had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 33.18%.The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that United Microelectronics will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a $0.4122 dividend. This is a boost from United Microelectronics’s previous annual dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 166.0%. United Microelectronics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 1,794.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 62,656 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 59,349 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position 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 period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in United Microelectronics by 25.8% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of United Microelectronics during the 2nd quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,793 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

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.