Continental Investors Services Inc. Makes New Investment in Universal Display Co. (NASDAQ:OLED)

Continental Investors Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Universal Display Co. (NASDAQ:OLED – Get Rating) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,920 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of OLED. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 7,820 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Universal Display by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,069 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Universal Display by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 583 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Universal Display by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,776 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,393,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 73.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on OLED shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Universal Display in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Universal Display from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 27th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Universal Display from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Universal Display from $130.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Universal Display from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.90.

Universal Display Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OLED opened at $143.65 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $132.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.31. Universal Display Co. has a twelve month low of $89.41 and a twelve month high of $176.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.44.

Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.43. Universal Display had a net margin of 34.07% and a return on equity of 17.56%. The firm had revenue of $169.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Universal Display Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Universal Display Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. This is a positive change from Universal Display’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 16th. Universal Display’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.27%.

About Universal Display

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Universal Display Corp. engages in the research, development, and commercialization of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies and materials. It also develops and licenses proprietary OLED technologies to manufacturers of products for display applications, such as cell phones, portable media devices, tablets, laptop computers and televisions, and specialty and general lighting products.