Analysts Set United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Target Price at $8.60

Shares of United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) have received an average rating of “Reduce” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $8.60.

UMC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded United Microelectronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th.

United Microelectronics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UMC opened at $8.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $10.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.50. United Microelectronics has a 52 week low of $5.71 and a 52 week high of $12.68. The stock has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in United Microelectronics by 873.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,464,312 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,492,466 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in United Microelectronics by 50.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 8,403,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $64,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,486 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,388,868 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $56,008,000 after purchasing an additional 344,416 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,655,721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $40,438,000 after purchasing an additional 537,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,511,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,323,000 after buying an additional 1,435,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.