Westpac Banking Corp Trims Stock Position in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 98.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 145,236 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Gen Digital were worth $54,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEN. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gen Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Gen Digital by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in Gen Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $47,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Gen Digital by 221.5% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in Gen Digital by 47.8% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Gen Digital

In other news, Director John C. Chrystal acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $27.06 per share, with a total value of $81,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 31,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $850,198.14. The trade was a 10.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 100,000 shares of Gen Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.78, for a total transaction of $2,478,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,832,724 shares in the company, valued at $94,974,900.72. This represents a 2.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Gen Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GEN opened at $25.84 on Friday. Gen Digital Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.78 and a 1-year high of $32.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.35 and a 200-day moving average of $23.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 1.21.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.47% and a net margin of 19.46%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Gen Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.680-0.700 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.850-2.950 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Gen Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays increased their target price on Gen Digital from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gen Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.33.

Gen Digital 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.