Castleark Management LLC Trims Holdings in Rambus, Inc. $RMBS

Key Points

• Castleark Management LLC reduced its Rambus stake by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 15,260 shares and leaving it with 95,578 shares valued at about $8.8 million.
• Rambus continues to attract major institutional interest, with funds like Norges Bank, Alliancebernstein, Bank of America, Rafferty Asset Management, and Barclays all reporting sizable positions; hedge funds and other institutions own 88.54% of the stock.
• The company posted solid earnings and strong analyst support, beating quarterly EPS estimates and seeing multiple firms raise price targets, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and average target price of $130.43.

Castleark Management LLC trimmed its stake in Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - Free Report) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 95,578 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 15,260 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC owned about 0.09% of Rambus worth $8,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RMBS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Rambus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $156,356,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Rambus by 572.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,822,030 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $189,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551,159 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Rambus by 196.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,550,665 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $161,579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,776 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rambus in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $93,962,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Rambus by 183.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 894,906 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $93,249,000 after purchasing an additional 578,839 shares during the last quarter. 88.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Rambus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RMBS opened at $146.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.79 and a beta of 1.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $131.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.96. Rambus, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.98 and a 1-year high of $174.10.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Xianzhi Sean Fan sold 37,914 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.69, for a total value of $5,751,174.66. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 168,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,538,225.02. This trade represents a 18.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Meera Rao sold 2,972 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.30, for a total transaction of $446,691.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,002,092.20. This trade represents a 12.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 79,850 shares of company stock worth $11,649,796. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on RMBS shares. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Rambus in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Rambus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Rambus from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut shares of Rambus from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $130.43.

Rambus 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.

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