United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $18.34, but opened at $19.50. United Microelectronics shares last traded at $18.83, with a volume of 1,954,037 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

United Microelectronics Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $49.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.60.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last released 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 business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 508.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 169,183 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 141,385 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 115.3% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 86,927 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 46,549 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics in the 1st quarter worth $628,000. Matthews International Capital Management LLC bought a new position in United Microelectronics in the 1st quarter worth $8,779,000. Finally, Delta Global Management LP bought a new position in United Microelectronics in the 1st quarter worth $1,435,000. 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.