Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $177.60.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on OLED. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Universal Display in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Zacks Research lowered Universal Display from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Universal Display from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Universal Display in a report on Monday, December 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OLED. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Universal Display in the third quarter worth $298,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Universal Display by 21.4% in the third quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 186,792 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,829,000 after buying an additional 32,955 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Universal Display by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 472,363 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $67,846,000 after acquiring an additional 14,356 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Universal Display during the 3rd quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Universal Display during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,098,000. Institutional investors own 78.19% of the company’s stock.

Universal Display Stock Performance

OLED stock opened at $121.85 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.32. Universal Display has a 52 week low of $103.70 and a 52 week high of $164.29. The stock has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.62.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $139.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.56 million. Universal Display had a return on equity of 14.10% and a net margin of 34.65%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Universal Display will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Universal Display Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. Universal Display’s payout ratio is currently 38.79%.

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.