Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Universal Display Call Options (NASDAQ:OLED)

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders purchased 12,174 Universal Display call options, nearly 20 times the average daily volume of 589 contracts.
• Mixed analyst outlook: Recent target cuts and rating changes led to a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $116.33, compared with the stock’s price of $81.59.
• Financial performance and dividend: Universal Display beat quarterly EPS estimates ($1.06 versus $1.03), though revenue fell 11.4% year over year. The company declared a $0.50 quarterly dividend, equating to a 2.5% yield.

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 12,174 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,967% compared to the average volume of 589 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. BTIG Research cut Universal Display to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Universal Display from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Universal Display from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $120.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Universal Display in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Universal Display from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $116.33.

Universal Display Trading Up 2.1%

OLED stock traded up $1.68 during trading on Thursday, hitting $81.59. The company had a trading volume of 325,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,093. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $83.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.19. Universal Display has a fifty-two week low of $76.42 and a fifty-two week high of $153.38. The company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.79 and a beta of 1.56.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.03. Universal Display had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 32.24%.The firm had revenue of $152.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Universal Display will post 4.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Universal Display Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Universal Display's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.43%.

Institutional Trading of Universal Display

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XXEC Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Universal Display during the second quarter worth $2,508,286,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Universal Display in the second quarter valued at about $373,931,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 8,176.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,339,198 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $375,731,000 after buying an additional 4,286,768 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in Universal Display during the 2nd quarter worth about $190,136,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Universal Display during the 4th quarter worth about $92,756,000. 78.19% of the stock is owned by 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.

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