Short Interest in United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Increases By 66.7%

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 34,193,634 shares, an increase of 66.7% from the July 15th total of 20,511,587 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,966,337 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

United Microelectronics Trading Down 5.3%

UMC opened at $18.50 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.89. United Microelectronics has a one year low of $6.56 and a one year high of $28.96. The stock has a market cap of $46.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.60.

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

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.4122 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 166.0%. This is a positive change from United Microelectronics’s previous annual dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. United Microelectronics’s dividend payout ratio is 28.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in United Microelectronics by 873.8% in 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 grew its stake in 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 worth $64,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,486 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in 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 worth $56,008,000 after acquiring an additional 344,416 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 537,777 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,435,780 shares during the period. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.