Brokerages Set Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) PT at $31.86

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.8571.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Gen Digital in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Gen Digital in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Gen Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Gen Digital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Gen Digital from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th.

Institutional Trading of Gen Digital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,310,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,993,302,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,313 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 3.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,558,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,755 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 2.2% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,961,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,867,000 after purchasing an additional 487,393 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 19,941,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,640,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,644,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,954,712 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GEN opened at $19.38 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.04. Gen Digital has a 52-week low of $17.78 and a 52-week high of $32.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97 and a beta of 1.10.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 56.76% and a net margin of 12.76%.The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Gen Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. Gen Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.640-0.660 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.540-2.560 EPS. Analysts forecast that Gen Digital will post 2.29 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 16th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 51.55%.

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.