BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Stock Position in United Microelectronics Co. (NYSE:UMC)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics Co. (NYSE:UMC) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 892,659 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 293,528 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in United Microelectronics were worth $5,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UMC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in United Microelectronics by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,947,754 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $103,501,000 after buying an additional 750,472 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in United Microelectronics by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,300,362 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $47,379,000 after acquiring an additional 237,024 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in United Microelectronics by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,547,867 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,026,000 after acquiring an additional 341,937 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 238.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,184,444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,667,000 after purchasing an additional 2,244,574 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 150.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,021,849 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215,849 shares during the period. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

United Microelectronics Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE:UMC opened at $7.69 on Tuesday. United Microelectronics Co. has a 12-month low of $5.61 and a 12-month high of $9.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.62. The company has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.63 billion. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 20.35% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that United Microelectronics Co. will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on UMC shares. Wedbush lowered United Microelectronics from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup upgraded United Microelectronics from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.40.

United Microelectronics Profile

United Microelectronics Corporation operates as a semiconductor wafer foundry in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides circuit design, mask tooling, wafer fabrication, and assembly and testing services. It serves fabless design companies and integrated device manufacturers.