Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED)

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 4,769 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 407% compared to the average daily volume of 940 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Universal Display

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in Universal Display by 1,916.1% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 5,262 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001 shares during the last quarter. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Universal Display in the third quarter worth about $28,000. NFSG Corp purchased a new position in Universal Display during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Universal Display by 10.2% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 38,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,966,000 after purchasing an additional 3,548 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Universal Display by 54.0% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on OLED shares. Zacks Research raised Universal Display from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Universal Display from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup downgraded Universal Display from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (down from $130.00) on shares of Universal Display in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, BTIG Research lowered shares of Universal Display to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Universal Display currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.00.

Universal Display Stock Performance

NASDAQ OLED opened at $77.95 on Friday. Universal Display has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $153.38. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.17.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.03. Universal Display had a net margin of 32.24% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The company had revenue of $152.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Universal Display will post 4.17 EPS for the current year.

Universal Display Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 16th. Universal Display’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.43%.

About Universal Display

Universal Display Corporation develops and commercializes technologies and materials used in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays and lighting. The company’s portfolio includes phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) technologies, which are designed to improve display efficiency, as well as OLED material systems and related technologies.

Universal Display generates revenue primarily through licensing its OLED intellectual property and selling OLED materials, including phosphorescent emitter materials and related products.