Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) Stock Jumps 5.5% – What’s Next?

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) shares rose 5.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $21.82 and last traded at $22.0010. Approximately 3,746,435 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 7,034,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.85.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GEN. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock 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 report on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays increased their price objective on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.80.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.22.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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. On average, analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Gen Digital’s payout ratio is 29.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $882,600.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 558,508 shares of company stock worth $16,356,093 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gen Digital

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Gen Digital by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in Gen Digital by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 141,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,658,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Gen Digital by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 12,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Gen Digital by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

About Gen Digital

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.