Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $31.65 and last traded at $31.2170, with a volume of 405548 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.65.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GEN shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Argus upgraded shares of Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of 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, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.60.

Gen Digital Trading Up 1.4%

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.22.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. 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, equities analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Gen Digital

In other news, insider Travis Michael Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the 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. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,987,120. This represents a 5.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 630,260 shares of company stock valued at $17,967,726. Insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GEN. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 162,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,057,000 after buying an additional 12,482 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 2,001.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 18,221,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,531,000 after acquiring an additional 17,354,503 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 11.1% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 91.7% in the second quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 37,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,000 after acquiring an additional 17,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC increased its position in Gen Digital by 128.0% in the second quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 28,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 16,002 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Gen Digital Company 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.