Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $225.17 Million Investment in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,046,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,169,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 1.51% of Gen Digital as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GEN. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Gen Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in Gen Digital by 452.2% in the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the second quarter worth $32,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the first quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gen Digital Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GEN opened at $29.64 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. Gen Digital Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.78 and a 12-month high of $30.93. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.71.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 20.73%.The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GEN shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Argus upgraded Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gen Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 47,462 shares of Gen Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $1,376,398.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,685,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,872,598. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Travis Michael Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $882,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 496,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,608,353.90. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 277,902 shares of company stock worth $7,549,344. Corporate insiders own 9.70% 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.