United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $18.90, but opened at $19.86. United Microelectronics shares last traded at $20.4320, with a volume of 1,840,401 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UMC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, United Microelectronics currently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $8.60.

United Microelectronics Trading Up 4.9%

The business has a 50 day moving average of $15.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.61.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 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 return on equity of 13.67% and a net margin of 20.71%.The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Equities analysts predict that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 8,492,466 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in United Microelectronics by 50.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 8,403,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $64,283,000 after buying an additional 2,826,486 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in United Microelectronics by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,511,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435,780 shares in the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.