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

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

Rambus Price Performance

Shares of Rambus stock traded up $18.34 on Wednesday, hitting $128.44. 2,095,499 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,821,427. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $96.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 60.62 and a beta of 1.51. Rambus has a one year low of $40.12 and a one year high of $130.23.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) last released its 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 company had revenue of $178.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $175.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Rambus will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Rambus from $73.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Rambus from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Rambus from $114.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Cfra Research lowered Rambus from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Rambus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Rambus news, Director Eric B. Stang sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.78, for a total value of $447,120.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,394 shares in the company, valued at $2,279,641.32. This represents a 16.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rambus

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 9,375 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Rambus by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,750 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $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 stake in Rambus by 6.6% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Rambus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Rambus by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 88.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.