Gen Digital Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:GEN)

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 7,475 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 578% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,102 call options.

Insider Activity at Gen Digital

In other Gen Digital news, Director John C. Chrystal acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.06 per share, for a total transaction of $81,180.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 31,419 shares in the company, valued at $850,198.14. This represents a 10.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.78, for a total transaction of $2,478,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,832,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,974,900.72. This represents a 2.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gen Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,310,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,993,302,000 after buying an additional 1,096,313 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 3.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,558,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $867,565,000 after buying an additional 1,015,755 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,473,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,730,000 after buying an additional 1,406,869 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted 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 acquiring an additional 3,640,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,954,712 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gen Digital Price Performance

GEN stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,170,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,686,463. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.99 and a 200 day moving average of $23.34. Gen Digital has a fifty-two week low of $17.78 and a fifty-two week high of $32.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. Gen Digital had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 55.93%. 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 firm posted $0.64 EPS. Gen Digital’s 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 predict that Gen Digital will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Gen Digital’s payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upgraded Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Gen Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.67.

About Gen Digital

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.