Rambus, Inc. $RMBS Shares Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management increased its Rambus stake by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 25,215 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 316,397 shares worth about $29.1 million.
• Insider selling has continued at Rambus, with CEO Luc Seraphin and Director Meera Rao both selling shares in recent months; insiders sold 56,850 shares total over the last three months.
• Rambus reported solid results in its latest quarter, beating EPS estimates and slightly topping revenue expectations, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $130.43.

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - Free Report) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 316,397 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 25,215 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.29% of Rambus worth $29,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Rambus by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,701,773 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,323,525,000 after acquiring an additional 140,948 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Rambus by 4.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,432,032 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $253,418,000 after purchasing an additional 109,908 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Rambus by 0.6% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,928,697 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $200,966,000 after purchasing an additional 11,024 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Rambus by 572.7% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,822,030 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $189,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551,159 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Rambus by 196.0% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,550,665 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $161,579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,776 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.54% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 39,914 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.63, for a total value of $3,936,717.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 331,070 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,653,434.10. This trade represents a 10.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Meera Rao sold 8,538 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.08, for a total transaction of $1,008,167.04. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,850 shares of company stock worth $5,861,739. Insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Rambus Stock Performance

Shares of RMBS stock opened at $142.98 on Monday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $112.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.42. Rambus, Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.12 and a 52 week high of $161.80. The company has a market cap of $15.46 billion, a PE ratio of 68.09 and a beta of 1.79.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $180.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.94 million. Equities research analysts expect that Rambus, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RMBS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Rambus to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Rambus from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Rambus from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Rambus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.

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