Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) Receives $32.71 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.7143.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Gen Digital from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 29th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Gen Digital in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Gen Digital in a report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gen Digital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,213,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,050,150,000 after acquiring an additional 964,046 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 48.1% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 978,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,755,000 after acquiring an additional 317,468 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 39.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 359,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,559,000 after acquiring an additional 101,580 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Gen Digital in the third quarter valued at $8,238,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in Gen Digital by 525.5% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 83,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,380,000 after acquiring an additional 70,424 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

Gen Digital stock opened at $19.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.15. The company has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.15. Gen Digital has a fifty-two week low of $18.20 and a fifty-two week high of $32.22.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 56.76% and a net margin of 12.76%.The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Gen Digital’s revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Gen Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.640-0.660 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.540-2.560 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Gen Digital will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.55%.

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.