Insider Selling: Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) Insider Sells $882,600.00 in Stock

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) insider Travis Michael Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Gen Digital Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of GEN stock opened at $28.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.46. Gen Digital Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.78 and a 1 year high of $31.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 20.73%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 29.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GEN shares. Argus raised Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gen Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gen Digital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gen Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $18,057,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Gen Digital during the second quarter valued at about $32,976,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Gen Digital during the second quarter valued at about $463,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Gen Digital during the second quarter valued at about $225,169,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Gen Digital in the second quarter worth about $8,993,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% 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.