Gen Digital Inc. $GEN Stock: Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. Decreases Position

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 99.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,655 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,735,759 shares during the period. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings in Gen Digital were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Gen Digital by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 16,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 6,124 shares during the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC acquired a new stake in Gen Digital in the third quarter valued at $4,447,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama acquired a new stake in Gen Digital in the third quarter valued at $2,488,000. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP lifted its holdings in Gen Digital by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 27,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 8,464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Gen Digital by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 33,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,000 after buying an additional 4,483 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GEN. Barclays upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Gen Digital from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.75, for a total value of $892,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 466,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,879,713.75. This represents a 6.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Bryan Seuk Ko sold 28,248 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.67, for a total value of $866,366.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 744,262 shares in the company, valued at $22,826,515.54. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 558,508 shares of company stock valued at $16,365,993. Insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Gen Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GEN opened at $30.01 on Wednesday. Gen Digital Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.78 and a 12 month high of $31.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.54.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Gen Digital had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 56.80%. Gen Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be issued a $0.1250 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. Gen Digital’s payout ratio is presently 25.13%.

Gen Digital Company Profile

Gen Digital Inc. is a global cybersecurity company that provides digital safety and identity protection services to consumers and small businesses. Its products include antivirus and malware protection, virtual private networks, password managers, scam protection, and identity monitoring and recovery services. The company offers services through brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, and CCleaner. Its products are available in markets around the world through direct subscriptions and other distribution channels.