Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB - Free Report) by 44.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,806 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,671 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Astera Labs were worth $346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALAB. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Astera Labs in the fourth quarter worth $821,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Astera Labs during the fourth quarter valued at $1,693,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Astera Labs during the fourth quarter valued at $2,871,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Astera Labs during the fourth quarter valued at $599,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in shares of Astera Labs during the fourth quarter valued at $540,000. 60.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Astera Labs Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALAB traded up $2.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $121.68. The company had a trading volume of 3,311,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,230,069. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.49. Astera Labs, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.22 and a 12 month high of $147.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 553.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.18.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.05. Astera Labs had a return on equity of 2.57% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $159.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 144.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Astera Labs, Inc. will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 686 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $60,004.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,637.86. This trade represents a 9.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jitendra Mohan sold 76,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.72, for a total value of $8,595,801.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 475,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at $53,589,455.12. This represents a 13.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,181,759 shares of company stock worth $200,883,431.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALAB. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Astera Labs from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Susquehanna began coverage on Astera Labs in a report on Friday, May 16th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised Astera Labs from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $99.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Astera Labs from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $100.00 target price on Astera Labs and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $102.67.

Astera Labs Profile

Astera Labs, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for cloud and AI infrastructure. Its Intelligent Connectivity Platform is comprised of a portfolio of data, network, and memory connectivity products, which are built on a unifying software-defined architecture that enables customers to deploy and operate high performance cloud and AI infrastructure at scale.