United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.60.

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

United Microelectronics Stock Performance

NYSE:UMC opened at $22.64 on Thursday. United Microelectronics has a twelve month low of $6.72 and a twelve month 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. The company has a 50-day moving average of $20.62 and a 200-day moving average of $16.98. The firm has a market cap of $56.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.59.

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

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United Microelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UMC. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 873.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,464,312 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $74,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,492,466 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in United Microelectronics by 832.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 3,530,564 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,762,000 after buying an additional 3,151,936 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in United Microelectronics by 50.7% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 8,403,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $64,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,486 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in United Microelectronics during the third quarter valued at approximately $21,235,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in United Microelectronics by 2,011.2% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,980,820 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $15,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886,996 shares during the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About United Microelectronics

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC) is a Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits for customers that design and market their own chips. The company provides wafer fabrication services rather than selling semiconductor products under its own consumer brand.

UMC supports a broad range of applications, including communications, automotive systems, industrial equipment, consumer electronics and computing. Its manufacturing portfolio includes logic and mixed-signal technologies, radio-frequency processes, embedded high-voltage solutions, display-driver chips, image sensors and other specialty semiconductor technologies.