Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) Sets New 52-Week High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Shares of Rambus hit a new 52‑week high, trading as high as $137.20 (last $137.41) and up about 3.9%; the stock sports a market cap of ~$14.8B and a P/E of ~64.7 with 50‑ and 200‑day moving averages near $100.
• Analyst views are mixed: MarketBeat's consensus is a Moderate Buy with a consensus target of $105.71, even as several firms have cut price targets while others maintain buy/outperform ratings.
• There has been notable insider selling recently (58,151 shares worth ~$5.85M over 90 days), while institutional ownership is very high at ~88.54%, driven by large purchases from Invesco, Norges Bank and AllianceBernstein.

Shares of Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $137.20 and last traded at $137.4050, with a volume of 315692 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $131.55.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on RMBS shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Rambus from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Rambus in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna cut their price target on Rambus from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore cut their price target on Rambus from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, William Blair started coverage on Rambus in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Rambus currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $105.71.

Rambus Stock Up 3.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.69 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $99.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.26.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The semiconductor company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68. The business had revenue of $190.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $188.21 million. Rambus had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 32.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Rambus, Inc. will post 2.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 5,426 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Meera Rao sold 8,538 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.08, for a total value of $1,008,167.04. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 58,151 shares of company stock worth $5,848,885. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Rambus

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RMBS. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Rambus by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,148,653 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $381,220,000 after buying an additional 1,716,621 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Rambus in the fourth quarter worth $156,356,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Rambus by 572.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Rambus by 196.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Rambus in the third quarter worth $93,962,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.54% of the company's stock.

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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