National Pension Service Buys 185,219 Shares of Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

National Pension Service lifted its position in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 254.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 257,971 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 185,219 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Gen Digital were worth $6,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Gen Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 452.2% in the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 65.8% in the 4th 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 purchased a new position in shares of Gen Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 221.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Travis Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 496,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,608,353.90. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Bryan Seuk Ko sold 28,248 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.67, for a total value of $866,366.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 744,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,826,515.54. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 558,508 shares of company stock worth $16,356,093. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GEN. Barclays upped their price target on shares of 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 boosted 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. Argus upgraded Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.60.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

Gen Digital stock opened at $30.26 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.28. 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 stock has a market cap of $18.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.22. Gen Digital Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.78 and a fifty-two week high of $31.65.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Gen Digital had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 55.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were 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 was Monday, August 17th. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

Gen Digital Profile

Gen Digital Inc (NASDAQ: GEN) is a global cybersecurity and consumer safety company that provides products designed to help individuals and families protect their devices, online identities, personal information and digital privacy. The company serves customers through a portfolio of consumer-focused cybersecurity and privacy brands.

Its products and services include antivirus and device security, identity theft protection, virtual private networks, password management, online privacy tools, scam protection and family safety features.