United Microelectronics Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:UMC)

United Microelectronics Co. (NYSE:UMC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 14,140 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 600% compared to the average volume of 2,019 call options.

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in United Microelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at $333,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 90.5% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 237,027 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,996,000 after acquiring an additional 112,624 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 192.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 300,738 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 197,998 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 16.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,186,187 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,988,000 after acquiring an additional 168,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of United Microelectronics in the third quarter worth about $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Citigroup raised shares of United Microelectronics from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.40.

United Microelectronics Stock Up 9.4 %

Shares of NYSE UMC opened at $7.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $6.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. United Microelectronics has a 12-month low of $5.61 and a 12-month high of $9.00. The company has a market cap of $17.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.20.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The semiconductor company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 20.35% and a return on equity of 12.78%. United Microelectronics’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.30 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that United Microelectronics will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.