Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Rambus, Inc. $RMBS

Key Points

• Fisher Asset Management significantly increased its stake in Rambus, boosting holdings by 238.4% in the fourth quarter to 517,278 shares, worth about $47.5 million.
• Wall Street remains cautiously bullish on Rambus: analysts have a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with an average price target of $130.43, though several firms recently mixed in upgrades and downgrades.
• Rambus reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates on April 27; the stock has also climbed near its 52-week high, while insiders have sold shares in recent months.

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - Free Report) by 238.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 517,278 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 364,396 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.48% of Rambus worth $47,533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RMBS. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Rambus by 22,321.4% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,417 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 9,375 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 5,783 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 19,120 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Rambus in the first quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Rambus in the second quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Rambus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Rambus from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Rambus from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Rambus from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Rambus from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rambus currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $130.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rambus news, EVP Xianzhi Sean Fan sold 37,914 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.69, for a total transaction of $5,751,174.66. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 168,358 shares in the company, valued at $25,538,225.02. This represents a 18.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 5,426 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.65, for a total transaction of $470,162.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 345,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,960,710.55. The trade was a 1.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 94,764 shares of company stock worth $11,612,914 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Rambus Price Performance

NASDAQ:RMBS opened at $157.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.87 and a beta of 1.79. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $115.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.06. Rambus, Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.12 and a 1 year high of $161.80.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.94 million. Rambus had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 31.90%. On average, analysts expect that Rambus, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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