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Hedge Funds and other institutional investors have just completed filing their 13Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing their equity portfolios as of the end of March. At Insider Monkey, we follow nearly 750 active hedge funds and notable investors and by analyzing their 13F filings, we can determine the stocks that they are collectively bullish on. One of their picks is Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED), so let’s take a closer look at the sentiment that surrounds it in the current quarter.

Is Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) a worthy stock to buy now? The smart money is in an optimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 8 lately. Our calculations also showed that oled isn't among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. OLED was in 18 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with OLED holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.

Let's take a gander at the recent hedge fund action encompassing Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED).

What does the smart money think about Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED)?

At Q1's end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 80% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 24 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in OLED a year ago. With hedgies' capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

More specifically, Polar Capital was the largest shareholder of Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED), with a stake worth $48.7 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Polar Capital was Citadel Investment Group, which amassed a stake valued at $47.9 million. Kayak Investment Partners, D E Shaw, and Highbridge Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.