Aurora Investment Counsel Decreases Stock Holdings in Rambus, Inc. $RMBS

Aurora Investment Counsel lowered its position in shares of Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) by 43.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,883 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 8,315 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Rambus were worth $936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of RMBS. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Rambus by 22,321.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,417 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 9,375 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Rambus by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,750 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,178,000 after acquiring an additional 5,783 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Rambus by 6.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 309,512 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $16,025,000 after acquiring an additional 19,120 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Rambus in the first quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Rambus in the second quarter valued at $102,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Rambus news, EVP Xianzhi Sean Fan sold 37,914 shares of Rambus stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 168,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,538,225.02. The trade was a 18.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Meera Rao sold 2,972 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.30, for a total value of $446,691.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,002,092.20. This trade represents a 12.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 65,886 shares of company stock valued at $10,171,466 over the last ninety days. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RMBS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rambus in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Rambus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Rambus from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Rambus from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered Rambus from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Rambus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.75.

Rambus Stock Performance

Shares of RMBS opened at $101.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.30 and a beta of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average is $131.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.01. Rambus, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.81 and a 1 year high of $174.10.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $180.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.94 million. Rambus had a net margin of 31.90% and a return on equity of 17.41%. Sell-side analysts predict that Rambus, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current 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.