Legal & General Group Plc Buys New Stake in Astera Labs, Inc. $ALAB

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 644,847 Astera Labs shares worth approximately $311.5 million, giving it a 0.37% stake. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 60.47% of the company.
• Astera Labs reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.80 beating estimates by $0.11 and revenue rising 104.5% year over year to $392.4 million. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $333.
• Astera Labs shares opened at $282.65, while CEO Jitendra Mohan and COO Sanjay Gajendra each sold 90,630 shares to cover tax obligations related to vested equity awards.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 644,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $311,474,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.37% of Astera Labs as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Astera Labs by 167.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 152,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,097,000 after buying an additional 95,409 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Astera Labs by 213.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,391 shares of the company's stock worth $680,000 after acquiring an additional 7,756 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Astera Labs by 917.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,639 shares of the company's stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 4,183 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Astera Labs by 102.0% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 112,766 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,196,000 after acquiring an additional 56,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Astera Labs by 54.9% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 5,581 shares of the company's stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,977 shares during the period. 60.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Astera Labs Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ ALAB opened at $282.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $49.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.93 and a beta of 3.84. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $348.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.38. Astera Labs, Inc. has a 52-week low of $97.89 and a 52-week high of $499.48.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $392.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.85 million. Astera Labs had a net margin of 30.74% and a return on equity of 19.24%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 104.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Astera Labs has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.160-1.210 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Astera Labs, Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ALAB shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Astera Labs from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on shares of Astera Labs in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $153.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research raised shares of Astera Labs from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Astera Labs from $230.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $297.00 price objective on shares of Astera Labs in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $333.00.

Insider Activity at Astera Labs

In other news, CEO Jitendra Mohan sold 90,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.35, for a total value of $30,845,920.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,266,665 shares in the company, valued at $431,109,432.75. This trade represents a 6.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Sanjay Gajendra sold 90,630 shares of Astera Labs stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.35, for a total value of $30,845,920.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,119,038 shares in the company, valued at $380,864,583.30. This represents a 7.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 419,244 shares of company stock worth $163,135,169 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company's stock.

Astera Labs Company Profile

Astera Labs is a fabless semiconductor company that develops connectivity solutions for data center and cloud infrastructure. The firm focuses on addressing signal integrity and link management challenges that arise as server architectures incorporate higher-bandwidth processors and accelerators. Its technology is aimed at improving reliability and performance for high-speed interconnects used in servers, storage systems and compute accelerators.

The company's product portfolio centers on silicon devices and accompanying firmware and software that enhance and manage high-speed links.

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