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

United Microelectronics Co. (NYSE:UMC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 14,140 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 600% compared to the typical volume of 2,019 call options.

United Microelectronics Stock Down 3.0 %

United Microelectronics stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.25. The company had a trading volume of 18,957,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,059,642. United Microelectronics has a fifty-two week low of $5.61 and a fifty-two week high of $9.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's fifty day moving average is $6.42 and its 200-day moving average is $6.90.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The semiconductor company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). United Microelectronics had a net margin of 20.35% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.30 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that United Microelectronics will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On United Microelectronics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,947,754 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $103,501,000 after purchasing an additional 750,472 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in United Microelectronics by 3,091.8% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 14,329,393 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $92,998,000 after purchasing an additional 13,880,446 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,300,362 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $47,379,000 after purchasing an additional 237,024 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of United Microelectronics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,661,624 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $30,831,000 after purchasing an additional 53,105 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of United Microelectronics by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,547,867 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $23,026,000 after buying an additional 341,937 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 5.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Citigroup raised shares of United Microelectronics from a "strong sell" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company 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.