Rambus Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:RMBS)

Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 5,958 call options on the company. This is an increase of 100% compared to the average daily volume of 2,986 call options.

Rambus Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:RMBS traded down $1.68 on Monday, hitting $139.49. The company had a trading volume of 546,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,503,330. The stock has a market cap of $15.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.58 and a beta of 1.84. Rambus has a 1-year low of $58.82 and a 1-year high of $174.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $135.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.61.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.94 million. Rambus had a net margin of 31.90% and a return on equity of 17.41%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Rambus will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rambus

In related news, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 5,426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.65, for a total value of $470,162.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 345,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,960,710.55. The trade was a 1.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Emiko Higashi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.50, for a total transaction of $1,605,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 49,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,947,799.50. This trade represents a 16.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 79,850 shares of company stock worth $11,649,796 over the last three months. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rambus

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Rambus by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC grew its position in Rambus by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC now owns 7,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in shares of Rambus by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 24,085 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Balefire LLC raised its stake in shares of Rambus by 3.8% during the first quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 2,932 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Rambus by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. 88.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RMBS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Rambus in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rambus in a report on Friday, June 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Rambus from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Rambus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Rambus has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.43.

Rambus Company Profile

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.