Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) Short Interest Update

Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,763,258 shares, an increase of 12.9% from the March 31st total of 5,990,703 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,976,043 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Rambus Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of RMBS opened at $111.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.30 and a beta of 1.79. Rambus has a 1-year low of $49.29 and a 1-year high of $161.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.58.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. Rambus had a net margin of 31.90% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The firm had revenue of $180.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.94 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Rambus will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 39,914 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.63, for a total transaction of $3,936,717.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 331,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,653,434.10. This trade represents a 10.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Meera Rao sold 8,538 shares of Rambus stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.08, for a total value of $1,008,167.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,463.68. This represents a 27.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,123 shares of company stock valued at $6,295,577. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rambus

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RMBS. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Rambus by 22,321.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,417 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 9,375 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Rambus by 34.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,750 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after buying an additional 5,783 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Rambus by 6.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 309,512 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $16,025,000 after buying an additional 19,120 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Rambus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Rambus during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,000. 88.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair began coverage on shares of Rambus in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Rambus in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Rambus from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Rambus from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rambus currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.43.

About Rambus

Rambus Inc is a technology licensing company specializing in semiconductor and system-level interface solutions. Founded in 1990 by Stanford University researchers Mike Farmwald and Mark Horowitz, Rambus established its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. The company initially gained prominence by developing high-speed DRAM interface technology and securing a broad patent portfolio covering memory architecture, data signaling and power management innovations.

Today, Rambus licenses its proprietary intellectual property (IP) to semiconductor companies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators worldwide.