Wall Street Zen Upgrades Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) to Buy

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on GEN. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Gen Digital from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Gen Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Gen Digital from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

Gen Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GEN opened at $29.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is $26.57 and its 200 day moving average is $24.49. The company has a market cap of $17.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.24. Gen Digital has a twelve month low of $17.78 and a twelve month high of $31.65.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Gen Digital had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 56.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Gen Digital will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,332,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,987,120. This represents a 5.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.75, for a total transaction of $892,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 466,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,879,713.75. The trade was a 6.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 588,508 shares of company stock valued at $17,248,593. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gen Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Gen Digital by 14.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 5.3% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 9,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 4,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 5.1% during the second quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 12,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 591 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Gen Digital by 3.4% in the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

About Gen Digital

Gen Digital Inc (NASDAQ: GEN) is a cybersecurity company that provides digital safety, privacy, and identity protection products for consumers. Its services are designed to help protect devices, personal information, online accounts, and digital identities from malware, fraud, identity theft, scams, and other cyber threats.

The company operates a portfolio of consumer brands that includes Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender, and CCleaner. Its offerings include antivirus and device security software, virtual private network services, password management, identity theft monitoring and restoration support, privacy tools, scam protection, and performance and optimization utilities.

Gen Digital serves customers internationally through direct subscriptions and distribution partnerships.