United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the five brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.40.

UMC has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "sell" rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup upgraded United Microelectronics from a "strong sell" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wedbush cut United Microelectronics from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th.

United Microelectronics Trading Down 0.6%

United Microelectronics stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $7.82. The stock had a trading volume of 4,532,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,748,776. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.14. United Microelectronics has a 12 month low of $5.61 and a 12 month high of $8.95.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.01). United Microelectronics had a return on equity of 12.10% and a net margin of 18.97%. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that United Microelectronics will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be given a dividend of $0.3661 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.6%. This is a positive change from United Microelectronics's previous annual dividend of $0.36. United Microelectronics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United Microelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in United Microelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in United Microelectronics by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 27,459 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 7,401 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in United Microelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at $174,000. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in United Microelectronics in the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in United Microelectronics by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,300,362 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $47,379,000 after purchasing an additional 237,024 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.05% of the company's stock.

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.