United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) shares gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $25.83, but opened at $24.10. United Microelectronics shares last traded at $23.7430, with a volume of 4,449,146 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UMC has been the topic of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane restated an “underperform” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $8.60.

United Microelectronics Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $62.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 13.67%. Equities research analysts expect that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.4122 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 166.0%. This is an increase from United Microelectronics’s previous annual dividend of $0.37. United Microelectronics’s payout ratio is currently 56.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in United Microelectronics by 873.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in United Microelectronics by 50.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,826,486 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in United Microelectronics by 4.9% during the third 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. raised 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 purchasing an additional 537,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,435,780 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

United Microelectronics Company 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.