William Blair Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in Rambus, Inc. $RMBS

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 316,397 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 25,215 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Rambus were worth $29,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in Rambus by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 24,085 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,213,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Krilogy Financial LLC increased its stake in Rambus by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 2,157 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Rambus by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Rambus by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,601 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Rambus by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,703 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Luc Seraphin sold 39,914 shares of Rambus stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.63, for a total value of $3,936,717.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 331,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,653,434.10. The trade was a 10.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Meera Rao sold 8,538 shares of Rambus stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.08, for a total transaction of $1,008,167.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 22,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,709,463.68. This trade represents a 27.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 56,850 shares of company stock valued at $5,861,739 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Rambus Stock Performance

RMBS opened at $142.98 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $112.98 and a 200-day moving average of $104.42. The company has a market capitalization of $15.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.09 and a beta of 1.79. Rambus, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.12 and a 1-year high of $161.80.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on RMBS. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Rambus from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Rambus from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Rambus to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Rambus from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Rambus from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One investment analyst has 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.43.

Rambus 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.