Artemis Investment Management LLP Raises Stock Position in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Key Points

• Artemis Investment Management increased its Gen Digital stake by 285.2% in the third quarter, adding 407,924 shares to own 550,971 shares valued at approximately $12.1 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 81.38% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with Gen Digital carrying a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $30.75. Recent target changes were mixed, including reductions from RBC and increases from Barclays and Wells Fargo.
• Gen Digital exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.71 in EPS and $1.34 billion in revenue, up 6.3% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.125, equivalent to a 2.2% annualized yield.

Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN - Free Report) by 285.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 550,971 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 407,924 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP owned about 0.09% of Gen Digital worth $12,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Gen Digital by 14.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,376 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Gen Digital by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 141,142 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,658,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Gen Digital by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 12,231 shares of the company's stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Gen Digital by 3.4% during the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,252 shares of the company's stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in Gen Digital by 5.1% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 14,100 shares of the company's stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GEN. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Gen Digital from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gen Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Gen Digital from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gen Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.75.

Gen Digital Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ GEN opened at $22.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. Gen Digital Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.78 and a 12 month high of $31.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.76.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. Gen Digital had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 55.93%. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.1250 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Gen Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.07%.

Insider Activity at Gen Digital

In related news, COO Bryan Seuk Ko sold 28,248 shares of Gen Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.67, for a total transaction of $866,366.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 744,262 shares in the company, valued at $22,826,515.54. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,332,904 shares in the company, valued at $99,987,120. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 558,508 shares of company stock worth $16,356,093 in the last quarter. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Gen Digital

Gen Digital Inc is a global cybersecurity and digital safety company that provides products and services designed to help consumers protect their devices, online privacy, personal information and digital identities. Its offerings include antivirus and malware protection, online privacy tools, identity theft protection, password management, scam and fraud protection, and utilities that support device performance and security.

The company markets its products under a portfolio of well-known brands, including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner.

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