Plato Investment Management Ltd Takes Position in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 51,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,267,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Gen Digital by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,310,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,993,302,000 after buying an additional 1,096,313 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Gen Digital by 3.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,558,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,755 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Gen Digital by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,473,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,869 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 19,941,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,640,451 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Gen Digital by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,644,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,954,712 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GEN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Gen Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Argus raised Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gen Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

Gen Digital Trading Down 3.8%

Gen Digital stock opened at $27.41 on Tuesday. Gen Digital Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.78 and a 12 month high of $31.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. The stock has a market cap of $16.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.46.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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%.Gen Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.61 EPS 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 paid 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 dividend yield of 1.8%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.07%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Travis Michael Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 100,000 shares of Gen Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.78, for a total transaction of $2,478,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,832,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,974,900.72. This trade represents a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 9.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gen Digital 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.