Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS)

Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 3,671 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 94% compared to the average volume of 1,895 call options.

Rambus Trading Up 14.4%

NASDAQ RMBS opened at $125.93 on Thursday. Rambus has a 1-year low of $40.12 and a 1-year high of $131.12. The firm has a market cap of $13.56 billion, a PE ratio of 59.68 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.68 and a 200-day moving average of $89.54.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.18). Rambus had a net margin of 33.72% and a return on equity of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $178.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $175.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Rambus will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on RMBS. Susquehanna set a $100.00 target price on Rambus and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Rambus in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Rambus from $114.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Rambus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Cfra Research cut shares of Rambus from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $108.14.

Insider Activity at Rambus

In other news, Director Eric B. Stang sold 5,000 shares of Rambus stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.35, for a total value of $511,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,496,725.90. The trade was a 17.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rambus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Rambus in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $126,268,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Rambus by 138.4% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,787,327 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $178,445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618,133 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Rambus by 572.7% in the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings in Rambus by 196.0% in the 3rd 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 bought a new position in shares of Rambus during the 3rd quarter valued at about $93,962,000. 88.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.