The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes $8.99 Million Position in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 361,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,993,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GEN. State Street Corp boosted its position in Gen Digital by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,558,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,565,000 after buying an additional 1,015,755 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Gen Digital by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,473,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,869 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake 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 valued at $542,211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,640,451 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake 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 valued at $425,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,954,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,592,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,461,000 after purchasing an additional 129,413 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gen Digital has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.67.

Insider Activity

In other Gen Digital news, Director John C. Chrystal bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.06 per share, with a total value of $81,180.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 31,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $850,198.14. This trade represents a 10.56% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Travis Michael Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of Gen Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $882,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 496,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,608,353.90. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 630,260 shares of company stock valued at $17,967,726 in the last ninety days. 9.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Gen Digital Trading Up 1.7%

NASDAQ:GEN opened at $31.02 on Friday. Gen Digital Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.78 and a 52 week high of $31.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $27.06 and its 200-day moving average is $23.81. The firm has a market cap of $18.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.03 and a beta of 1.21.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. The business 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%. Gen Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $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. Equities analysts expect that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

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

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.