Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 4,385 Shares of Astera Labs, Inc. $ALAB

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its Astera Labs stake by 18.3% in the first quarter, purchasing 4,385 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 28,307 shares valued at approximately $3.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 60.47% of ALAB.
• Astera Labs reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.61 versus the $0.54 consensus and revenue of $308.36 million, up 93.5% year over year. The company guided for second-quarter 2026 EPS of $0.68–$0.70.
• Insiders have sold significant amounts of stock recently, including COO Sanjay Gajendra’s $116.1 million sale and total insider sales of 1.68 million shares worth $444.9 million over the past 90 days. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $282.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB - Free Report) by 18.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,307 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,385 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Astera Labs were worth $3,102,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ALAB. Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Astera Labs in the 1st quarter valued at about $438,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its stake in Astera Labs by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 76,119 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,343,000 after purchasing an additional 15,710 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Astera Labs by 122,693.2% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 54,029 shares of the company's stock worth $5,922,000 after purchasing an additional 53,985 shares in the last quarter. Warm Springs Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Astera Labs during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,908,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Astera Labs by 116.5% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 181,297 shares of the company's stock worth $19,808,000 after purchasing an additional 97,576 shares during the last quarter. 60.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Astera Labs

In related news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 686 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.04, for a total value of $270,997.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,192,472. This represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Sanjay Gajendra sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.30, for a total value of $116,120,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,064,213 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,470,141,033.90. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,676,845 shares of company stock worth $444,928,806 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company's stock.

Astera Labs Stock Performance

ALAB opened at $249.74 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $42.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 168.74, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 3.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $359.85 and a 200 day moving average of $228.24. Astera Labs, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $97.89 and a fifty-two week high of $499.48.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $308.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.19 million. Astera Labs had a net margin of 26.72% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 93.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. Astera Labs has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.680-0.700 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Astera Labs, Inc. will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ALAB. UBS Group raised their target price on Astera Labs from $205.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Astera Labs from $225.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings raised Astera Labs from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Astera Labs from $205.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $297.00 price objective on shares of Astera Labs in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Astera Labs presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.00.

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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