Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 599,160 Shares of United Microelectronics Corporation $UMC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in United Microelectronics Corporation by 9.7%, owning approximately 0.22% of the company, worth around $39.87 million after selling nearly 600,000 shares.
• United Microelectronics recently disclosed an annual dividend of $0.3661 per share, representing a yield of 460%, up from the previous $0.36.
• The company's stock performance showed a quarterly EPS of $0.12, missing estimates, with projected earnings of $0.51 for the current year.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,576,578 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 599,160 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.22% of United Microelectronics worth $39,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in United Microelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at about $242,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in United Microelectronics by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,288,513 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $8,362,000 after acquiring an additional 214,783 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in United Microelectronics in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 262.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,108 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 8,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 238.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,184,444 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $20,667,000 after purchasing an additional 2,244,574 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.05% of the company's stock.

United Microelectronics Trading Down 1.5%

United Microelectronics stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $6.59. 6,930,119 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,759,387. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. United Microelectronics Corporation has a 52 week low of $5.61 and a 52 week high of $8.86.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.02). United Microelectronics had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 16.71%.The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.3661 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. This is a positive change from United Microelectronics's previous annual dividend of $0.36. This represents a yield of 460.0%. United Microelectronics's payout ratio is presently 75.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, United Microelectronics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $7.40.

United Microelectronics Company Profile

United Microelectronics Corporation operates as a semiconductor wafer foundry in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides circuit design, mask tooling, wafer fabrication, and assembly and testing services. It serves fabless design companies and integrated device manufacturers.