Engineers Gate Manager LP Decreases Stock Position in United Microelectronics Corporation $UMC

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP cut its United Microelectronics stake by 69% in the second quarter, selling 143,768 shares and retaining 64,581 shares valued at approximately $1.76 million.
• Institutional ownership remains limited at 5.05%, although several investors initiated positions and Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its holdings by 13.2%.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: upgrades from Zacks Research and Arete Research contrast with several sell ratings, leaving UMC with a consensus “Hold” rating and an $8.60 target price.

Engineers Gate Manager LP lessened its stake in United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC - Free Report) by 69.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,581 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 143,768 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP's holdings in United Microelectronics were worth $1,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Matthews International Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in United Microelectronics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,779,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of United Microelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,550,000. Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of United Microelectronics in the second quarter worth approximately $9,525,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 13.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,849,737 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $25,591,000 after purchasing an additional 333,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delta Global Management LP purchased a new position in shares of United Microelectronics in the first quarter worth $1,435,000. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

United Microelectronics Price Performance

UMC stock opened at $22.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.81. United Microelectronics Corporation has a 1 year low of $6.82 and a 1 year high of $28.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.37 and a 200 day moving average of $17.39. The company has a market cap of $56.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.59.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.53 earnings per share 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 for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were issued a $0.4122 dividend. This represents a 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 currently 28.97%.

United Microelectronics Profile

United Microelectronics Corporation NYSE: UMC is a Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits for customers that design and market their own chips. The company provides wafer fabrication services rather than selling semiconductor products under its own consumer brand.

UMC supports a broad range of applications, including communications, automotive systems, industrial equipment, consumer electronics and computing. Its manufacturing portfolio includes logic and mixed-signal technologies, radio-frequency processes, embedded high-voltage solutions, display-driver chips, image sensors and other specialty semiconductor technologies.

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