West Family Investments Inc. Lowers Holdings in United Microelectronics Corporation $UMC

West Family Investments Inc. reduced its stake in shares of United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) by 26.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,392 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 32,932 shares during the period. United Microelectronics makes up approximately 0.7% of West Family Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in United Microelectronics were worth $2,514,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of UMC. AQR Capital Management LLC grew 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 during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,388,868 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $56,008,000 after purchasing an additional 344,416 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $40,438,000 after buying an additional 537,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

United Microelectronics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UMC traded up $1.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,524,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,590,321. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.17. The company has a market cap of $54.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.59. United Microelectronics Corporation has a 12-month low of $6.72 and a 12-month high of $28.96.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter. The company 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%. On average, analysts forecast that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UMC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded United Microelectronics from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Arete Research raised shares of United Microelectronics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.60.

United Microelectronics 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.