Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $130.60.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Universal Display from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Universal Display from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Universal Display from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Roth Capital set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Universal Display in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Universal Display in a report on Thursday, June 18th.

Universal Display Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of OLED stock opened at $79.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73 and a beta of 1.54. Universal Display has a 12-month low of $77.15 and a 12-month high of $153.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $86.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.81.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.37). Universal Display had a net margin of 34.08% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm had revenue of $142.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Universal Display will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Universal Display Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Universal Display’s payout ratio is presently 44.64%.

Institutional Trading of Universal Display

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OLED. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Universal Display during the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,756,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Universal Display by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 880,678 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $102,846,000 after purchasing an additional 408,315 shares during the period. Analog Century Management LP purchased a new stake in Universal Display in the fourth quarter worth $46,914,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Universal Display by 100.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 646,787 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $75,532,000 after purchasing an additional 324,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XXEC Inc. lifted its position in shares of Universal Display by 489.3% during the first quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 386,937 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,467,000 after purchasing an additional 321,276 shares during the last quarter. 78.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Universal Display

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: OLED) is a technology company specializing in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) solutions. The company develops and commercializes materials, technologies and software used in the creation of OLED displays and lighting. Its offerings include proprietary phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) materials, display driver integrated circuits and process technologies that enable higher efficiency, longer lifetimes and improved color performance for a range of display and lighting applications.

Universal Display’s core business is licensing its extensive OLED patent portfolio to display manufacturers and providing them with the key organic materials needed for device fabrication.