Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on GEN. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Gen Digital in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.29.

Gen Digital Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GEN opened at $25.17 on Friday. Gen Digital has a 52-week low of $22.14 and a 52-week high of $32.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Gen Digital’s revenue 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Gen Digital will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Gen Digital news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 113,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.12, for a total value of $3,082,838.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,932,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,662,417.60. This trade represents a 2.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John C. Chrystal bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $27.14 per share, with a total value of $135,700.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 28,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $771,291.66. The trade was a 21.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 9.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gen Digital

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aviva PLC lifted its position in Gen Digital by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 407,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,970,000 after purchasing an additional 25,315 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 48.1% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 978,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,755,000 after purchasing an additional 317,468 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $394,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Gen Digital by 39.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 359,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,559,000 after buying an additional 101,580 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Gen Digital by 481.8% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 462,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,140,000 after buying an additional 383,279 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.