Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 27,001 Shares of Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,426,358 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,001 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Gen Digital worth $40,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Gen Digital by 2.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,249,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,094,743,000 after buying an additional 1,558,983 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Gen Digital by 1.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,543,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $868,566,000 after acquiring an additional 349,289 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings 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 last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Gen Digital by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 15,899,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $467,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,253,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $449,507,000 after purchasing an additional 101,791 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GEN. Wall Street Zen upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Gen Digital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Gen Digital from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Gen Digital in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut 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 report on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gen Digital has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.43.

Insider Activity

In other Gen Digital news, Director John C. Chrystal bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.14 per share, for a total transaction of $135,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 28,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $771,291.66. This represents a 21.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 113,674 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 3,932,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $106,662,417.60. The trade was a 2.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Gen Digital Price Performance

Shares of Gen Digital stock opened at $26.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.27. Gen Digital Inc. has a one year low of $22.74 and a one year high of $32.22.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.01. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 57.09% and a net margin of 12.74%.The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Gen Digital’s revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. Gen Digital has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.510-2.56 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.620-0.64 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 54.35%.

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.