Wall Street Zen Downgrades Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) to Sell

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on OLED. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Universal Display in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Universal Display in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Universal Display from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.60.

Universal Display Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OLED opened at $121.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $123.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.11. Universal Display has a fifty-two week low of $103.70 and a fifty-two week high of $164.29.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) last announced its quarterly 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Universal Display will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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