Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Analysts

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six investment 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 objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.25.

GEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Gen Digital from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th.

Gen Digital Price Performance

Shares of GEN opened at $23.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.26. 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 has a 1-year low of $17.78 and a 1-year high of $31.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.99.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 20.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gen Digital will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.1250 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gen Digital news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of Gen Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,332,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,987,120. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of Gen Digital 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 owned 496,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders sold 558,508 shares of company stock valued at $16,356,093. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in Gen Digital during the third quarter valued at $545,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 21.5% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 28,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 5,058 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in Gen Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $367,000. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Gen Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Howard Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Gen Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,459,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Gen Digital Company Profile

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.