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

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $177.60.

Several research firms have commented on OLED. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Universal Display in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Universal Display from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Universal Display in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Universal Display from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd.

Universal Display Price Performance

Shares of OLED stock opened at $118.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.62. Universal Display has a 1 year low of $103.70 and a 1 year high of $164.29. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.00.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.27). Universal Display had a net margin of 34.65% and a return on equity of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $139.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Universal Display will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Universal Display Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Universal Display

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OLED. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its stake in Universal Display by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,937 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Universal Display by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,316 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 61.6% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 580 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Universal Display by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 6,253 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $730,000 after buying an additional 2,066 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Universal Display by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 21,169 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,472,000 after buying an additional 7,849 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.19% of the company’s stock.

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.