Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $130.60.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on OLED. Wall Street Zen upgraded Universal Display from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 22nd. Zacks Research cut Universal Display from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $135.00 price target on Universal Display in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Universal Display in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Universal Display from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st.

Universal Display Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of OLED stock opened at $91.75 on Friday. Universal Display has a fifty-two week low of $83.64 and a fifty-two week high of $163.21. The stock has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a P/E/G ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 1.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.66.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Universal Display will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Universal Display Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. Universal Display’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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 purchased a new stake in Universal Display during the 4th quarter worth about $92,756,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Universal Display by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,069,107 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $728,076,000 after buying an additional 460,792 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Universal Display by 86.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 880,678 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $102,846,000 after buying an additional 408,315 shares during the period. Analog Century Management LP purchased a new stake in Universal Display in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,914,000. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Universal Display by 100.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 646,787 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $75,532,000 after buying an additional 324,677 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.19% of the company’s stock.

Universal Display Company Profile

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.