Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC Buys New Position in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB)

Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 73,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,787,000. Astera Labs makes up approximately 2.3% of Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Astera Labs during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Astera Labs by 99.0% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Astera Labs during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Astera Labs during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Astera Labs by 3,155.6% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. 60.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Astera Labs Stock Up 2.2 %

ALAB opened at $60.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion and a P/E ratio of -34.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $73.46 and a 200-day moving average of $90.89. Astera Labs, Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.22 and a 12-month high of $147.39.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.16). Astera Labs had a negative net margin of 21.05% and a negative return on equity of 10.40%. On average, analysts expect that Astera Labs, Inc. will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Astera Labs

In other news, CFO Michael Truett Tate sold 34,474 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.07, for a total transaction of $3,174,021.18. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 244,242 shares in the company, valued at $22,487,360.94. The trade was a 12.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Philip Mazzara sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.46, for a total transaction of $4,373,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 191,209 shares in the company, valued at $16,723,139.14. This trade represents a 20.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 633,990 shares of company stock valued at $54,235,012 over the last three months.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Northland Securities raised Astera Labs from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Astera Labs in a research report on Friday, March 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Astera Labs from $87.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Astera Labs from $142.00 to $114.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Astera Labs in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.77.

Astera Labs Company 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.