Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.60.

GEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th.

Insider Activity at Gen Digital

In other Gen Digital news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 3,332,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,987,120. This represents a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 496,545 shares in the company, valued at $14,608,353.90. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 558,508 shares of company stock valued at $16,356,093. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gen Digital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 254.6% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 257,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,421,000 after purchasing an additional 185,219 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC raised its position in Gen Digital by 38.7% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 7,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,049 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Gen Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $177,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Gen Digital by 6.1% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 5,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Gen Digital by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 8,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

Shares of GEN opened at $23.07 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.70. Gen Digital has a 12-month low of $17.78 and a 12-month high of $31.65.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Gen Digital had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 55.93%. Gen Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gen Digital will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.1250 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 29.07%.

Gen Digital Company Profile

Gen Digital Inc (NASDAQ: GEN) is a global cybersecurity and consumer safety company that provides products designed to help individuals and families protect their devices, online identities, personal information and digital privacy. The company serves customers through a portfolio of consumer-focused cybersecurity and privacy brands.

Its products and services include antivirus and device security, identity theft protection, virtual private networks, password management, online privacy tools, scam protection and family safety features.