Rambus Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:RMBS)

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS – Get Rating) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 8,327 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 427% compared to the typical volume of 1,580 call options.

Rambus Stock Up 9.6 %

Shares of Rambus stock opened at $58.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.82 and a beta of 1.32. Rambus has a twelve month low of $20.00 and a twelve month high of $59.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.38.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The semiconductor company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.39). The business had revenue of $113.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $145.99 million. Rambus had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 21.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Rambus will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Rambus in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Rambus from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Rambus in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Rambus from $36.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Rambus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.17.

Insider Activity

In other Rambus news, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $552,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,123,162.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 117,056 shares of company stock valued at $5,500,146. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rambus

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Rambus by 1.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,864,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $915,725,000 after purchasing an additional 295,147 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Rambus by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,586,966 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $319,960,000 after buying an additional 314,467 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Rambus by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,138,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $131,099,000 after acquiring an additional 69,862 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Rambus by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,855,801 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $123,434,000 after acquiring an additional 155,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Rambus by 787.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,756,514 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $192,560,000 after acquiring an additional 3,333,307 shares during the last quarter. 85.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Rambus

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Rambus, Inc engages in the provision of cutting-edge semiconductor and Internet Protocol products, spanning memory and interfaces to security, smart sensors and lighting. Its products include Memory Interface Chips, Interface IP, and Security IP. The company was founded by P. Michael Farmwald and Mark A.