Investors Purchase High Volume of United Microelectronics Call Options (NYSE:UMC)

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Investors purchased 89,622 UMC call options, 483% above the typical volume of 15,360 contracts.
• UMC shares traded around $19, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.53 on $2.16 billion in revenue and maintains solid profitability, including a 33.18% net margin.
• Analyst opinions remain mixed despite several recent upgrades: UMC has a consensus “Hold” rating, with three Sell ratings, and institutional investors own 5.05% of the stock.

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 89,622 call options on the company. This is an increase of 483% compared to the typical volume of 15,360 call options.

United Microelectronics Price Performance

UMC traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $19.00. 3,321,999 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,910,825. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.56. United Microelectronics has a 52-week low of $6.56 and a 52-week high of $28.96. The company has a market capitalization of $47.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

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

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were issued a dividend of $0.4122 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. This is an increase from United Microelectronics's previous annual dividend of $0.37. This represents a dividend yield of 166.0%. United Microelectronics's payout ratio is currently 28.97%.

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $74,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,492,466 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 50.7% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 8,403,064 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $64,283,000 after buying an additional 2,826,486 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 4.9% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,388,868 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $56,008,000 after buying an additional 344,416 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 10.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,655,721 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $40,438,000 after buying an additional 537,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,511,784 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $43,323,000 after buying an additional 1,435,780 shares during the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UMC has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of United Microelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Arete Research upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, 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. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, United Microelectronics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $8.60.

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.

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