United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. 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 Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $8.60.

United Microelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of UMC opened at $25.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.17 billion, a PE ratio of 39.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. United Microelectronics has a 52-week low of $6.56 and a 52-week high of $28.96.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 13.67%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that United Microelectronics will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 873.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,464,312 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,389,000 after buying an additional 8,492,466 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $64,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,486 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 344,416 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 537,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 35.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.