Empowered Funds LLC Acquires New Holdings in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 510,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,705,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in Gen Digital by 3.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,558,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $867,565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,755 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,473,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406,869 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Gen Digital by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 19,941,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,640,451 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Gen Digital by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,644,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,954,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,592,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,461,000 after purchasing an additional 129,413 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Travis Michael 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 transaction, the insider owned 496,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,608,353.90. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John C. Chrystal bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.06 per share, with a total value of $81,180.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 31,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $850,198.14. This represents a 10.56% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 630,260 shares of company stock worth $17,967,726. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GEN. Argus raised shares of Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gen Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.67.

Gen Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ GEN opened at $31.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. Gen Digital Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.78 and a 12 month high of $31.29. The stock has a market cap of $18.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.03 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day moving average is $27.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.81.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 20.73%.The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts anticipate that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

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

Gen Digital 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.