Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.60.

GEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Argus upgraded Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,332,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,987,120. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $882,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 496,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,608,353.90. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 630,260 shares of company stock valued at $17,967,726. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gen Digital

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 2,001.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 18,221,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,531,000 after purchasing an additional 17,354,503 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Gen Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $225,169,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Gen Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $146,639,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Gen Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $108,421,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Gen Digital by 45.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 13,094,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,567,000 after acquiring an additional 4,115,676 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

Shares of GEN opened at $30.65 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.03. Gen Digital has a 52-week low of $17.78 and a 52-week high of $31.65.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 20.73%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Gen Digital has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.870-2.970 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.710-0.730 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gen Digital will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.07%.

Gen Digital Company Profile

Gen Digital (NASDAQ: GEN) is a global cybersecurity company specializing in consumer- and small-business-focused security, privacy, and identity protection solutions. The company offers a suite of products designed to safeguard devices, networks, and personal information against malware, ransomware, phishing attacks and other digital threats. With a focus on user-friendly interfaces and cross-platform compatibility, Gen Digital develops antivirus software, VPN services, parental controls, password management tools, and comprehensive identity-theft monitoring services.

Gen Digital traces its origins to the consumer software division of Symantec Corporation, which was spun off in late 2019 under the NortonLifeLock name.