Short Interest in Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) Drops By 36.5%

Key Points

• Short interest in Rambus fell sharply in June, dropping 36.5% to 4.88 million shares as of June 30, with a days-to-cover ratio of 1.1 days and about 4.5% of shares sold short.
• Wall Street remains broadly constructive on Rambus, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.75, though Robert W. Baird recently downgraded the stock to neutral.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including EVP Xianzhi Sean Fan and Director Emiko Higashi, while institutions still hold the vast majority of the stock at 88.54% ownership.

Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 4,878,765 shares, a drop of 36.5% from the June 15th total of 7,682,296 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,603,682 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company's shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on RMBS. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Rambus from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Rambus in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Rambus in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Rambus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Rambus presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $134.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Rambus news, EVP Xianzhi Sean Fan sold 37,914 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was 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 directly owned 168,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,538,225.02. This represents a 18.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Emiko Higashi sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.50, for a total transaction of $1,605,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 49,519 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,947,799.50. This trade represents a 16.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 65,886 shares of company stock worth $10,171,466 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rambus

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Rambus by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,385,570 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $494,881,000 after purchasing an additional 140,226 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Rambus by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,148,653 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $381,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,716,621 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Rambus by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,842,715 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $261,256,000 after buying an additional 94,214 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Rambus by 38.5% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,947,742 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $167,564,000 after buying an additional 541,056 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Rambus during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $156,356,000. 88.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Rambus Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:RMBS traded down $2.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $98.76. 856,525 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,679,879. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $132.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.10. Rambus has a 52-week low of $62.81 and a 52-week high of $174.10. The company has a market cap of $10.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.31 and a beta of 1.84.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $180.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.94 million. Rambus had a net margin of 31.90% and a return on equity of 17.41%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Rambus will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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