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

Shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.80.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GEN. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Gen Digital from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Barclays increased their target price on 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, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th.

Gen Digital Price Performance

GEN stock opened at $22.25 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.70. The stock has a market cap of $13.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.26. Gen Digital has a 1 year low of $17.78 and a 1 year high of $31.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Gen Digital had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 55.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Gen Digital will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.1250 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gen Digital news, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider directly owned 496,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,608,353.90. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,332,904 shares in the company, valued at $99,987,120. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 558,508 shares of company stock worth $16,356,093 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gen Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Gen Digital in the second quarter valued at about $225,169,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Gen Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $146,639,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Gen Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $108,421,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 45.8% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Gen Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $62,004,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gen Digital Company Profile

Gen Digital Inc is a global cybersecurity and digital safety company that provides products and services designed to help consumers protect their devices, online privacy, personal information and digital identities. Its offerings include antivirus and malware protection, online privacy tools, identity theft protection, password management, scam and fraud protection, and utilities that support device performance and security.

The company markets its products under a portfolio of well-known brands, including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner.