Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 61,255 Shares of Rambus, Inc. $RMBS

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group cut its Rambus stake by 13% in the fourth quarter, selling 61,255 shares and ending with 411,719 shares valued at about $37.8 million.
• Insider selling has also been notable, with CFO Desmond Lynch and CEO Luc Seraphin both selling shares in recent transactions; insiders sold 61,123 shares over the last 90 days.
• Analysts remain generally positive on Rambus, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.43, while the company recently beat quarterly EPS expectations and posted revenue slightly above estimates.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - Free Report) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 411,719 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 61,255 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.38% of Rambus worth $37,833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Rambus during the third quarter worth $1,094,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Rambus by 101.7% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 139,430 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $14,669,000 after purchasing an additional 70,314 shares during the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in Rambus during the third quarter worth $1,149,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in Rambus by 57.0% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 52,435 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Rambus by 2,372.0% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 122,636 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $11,269,000 after purchasing an additional 117,675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Rambus

In other news, CFO Desmond Lynch sold 4,273 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.53, for a total transaction of $433,837.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 63,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,459,135.54. This trade represents a 6.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 5,426 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.65, for a total transaction of $470,162.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 345,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,960,710.55. This represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 61,123 shares of company stock worth $6,295,577. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on RMBS shares. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Rambus in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Rambus from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Rambus to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Rambus from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $130.43.

Rambus Stock Performance

NASDAQ RMBS opened at $129.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $104.61 and a 200-day moving average of $102.25. The stock has a market cap of $13.98 billion, a PE ratio of 61.54 and a beta of 1.79. Rambus, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.89 and a 52-week 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The company 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Rambus, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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