Morgan Stanley Downgrades United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) to Equal Weight

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) was downgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of United Microelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $7.40 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, United Microelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.40.

United Microelectronics Stock Down 0.2 %

UMC stock opened at $7.41 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $18.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. United Microelectronics has a 12 month low of $7.02 and a 12 month high of $9.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.28.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 23.90% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that United Microelectronics will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in United Microelectronics by 90.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in United Microelectronics during the third quarter worth about $84,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new position in United Microelectronics during the first quarter worth about $86,000. Aprio Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in United Microelectronics during the second quarter worth about $95,000. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC acquired a new position in United Microelectronics during the second quarter worth about $103,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

About United Microelectronics

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.