Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Universal Display Corporation $OLED

Key Points

• Hardman Johnston cut its stake by 23%, selling 48,817 shares to hold 163,286 shares (~$19.07M); institutional investors now own about 78.19% of Universal Display.
• Universal Display beat Q4 EPS ($1.39 vs. $1.28), reported revenue up 6.5% YoY, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.50 (annualized $2.00, ~2.1% yield).
• Analysts are mixed with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.67, while the stock trades around $97.22 (52‑week range $86.43–$163.21) and a market cap of $4.58B.

Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED - Free Report) by 23.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 163,286 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 48,817 shares during the period. Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC owned about 0.34% of Universal Display worth $19,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 10.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,069,107 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $728,076,000 after purchasing an additional 460,792 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Universal Display in the third quarter valued at about $32,962,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 63.2% in the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 574,161 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $88,685,000 after purchasing an additional 222,327 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 58.8% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 447,993 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,197,000 after purchasing an additional 165,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 88.1% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 185,829 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,691,000 after purchasing an additional 87,049 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on OLED. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Universal Display in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Universal Display from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Universal Display from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Universal Display from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, February 22nd. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Universal Display in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.67.

Universal Display Price Performance

Universal Display stock opened at $97.22 on Monday. Universal Display Corporation has a 52-week low of $86.43 and a 52-week high of $163.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $103.93 and a 200-day moving average of $119.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 7.87 and a beta of 1.65.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $172.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.35 million. Universal Display had a net margin of 37.21% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The business's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Universal Display Corporation will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Universal Display Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Universal Display's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Universal Display's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.45%.

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.

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