Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Benchmark

Benchmark upgraded shares of Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on RMBS. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Rambus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rambus in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Rambus from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Rambus from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Rambus presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.75.

Rambus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RMBS opened at $101.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.30 and a beta of 1.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.10. Rambus has a one year low of $62.81 and a one year high of $174.10.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.94 million. Rambus had a net margin of 31.90% and a return on equity of 17.41%. As a group, analysts expect that Rambus will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rambus

In other Rambus news, Director Emiko Higashi sold 10,000 shares of Rambus 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 transaction, the director directly owned 49,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,947,799.50. The trade was a 16.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Xianzhi Sean Fan sold 37,914 shares of Rambus stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 168,358 shares in the company, valued at $25,538,225.02. The trade was a 18.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 65,886 shares of company stock worth $10,171,466 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rambus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RMBS. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Rambus by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 150,857 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,025,000 after purchasing an additional 33,060 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Rambus during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,226,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rambus in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $135,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rambus in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Rambus by 80.9% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,183,000 after purchasing an additional 16,542 shares during the last quarter. 88.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.