Investors Purchase Large Volume of United Microelectronics Call Options (NYSE:UMC)

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 2,665 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 290% compared to the average volume of 683 call options.

United Microelectronics Price Performance

United Microelectronics stock opened at $8.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 1.08. United Microelectronics has a one year low of $5.61 and a one year high of $9.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $7.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.34.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.08. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 17.08% and a return on equity of 11.18%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that United Microelectronics will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Microelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in United Microelectronics during the second quarter worth $1,474,000. Callan Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 406.8% in the 2nd quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 54,754 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 43,950 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 37.2% in the 2nd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 187,696 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,436,000 after buying an additional 50,925 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in United Microelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $475,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in United Microelectronics by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 365,708 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 88,237 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on UMC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America downgraded United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.