Boston Partners Acquires 1,954,712 Shares of Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Key Points

• Boston Partners increased its Gen Digital stake by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, adding 1,954,712 shares and bringing its total holding to 15,644,289 shares worth about $425.3 million.
• Gen Digital reported solid quarterly results, with EPS of $0.67 and revenue of $1.28 billion, both beating estimates; revenue also rose 27% year over year.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.125 per share, equal to a 2.1% annualized yield, while analysts currently rate the stock a hold with an average price target of $31.29.

Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN - Free Report) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,644,289 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,954,712 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned approximately 2.58% of Gen Digital worth $425,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEN. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Gen Digital by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,600,836 shares of the company's stock worth $187,398,000 after buying an additional 2,103,335 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Gen Digital by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,473,917 shares of the company's stock worth $660,730,000 after buying an additional 1,406,869 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Gen Digital during the fourth quarter worth $31,991,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in Gen Digital by 72.8% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,786,250 shares of the company's stock worth $79,102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,174,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Gen Digital by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,310,110 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,993,302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,313 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GEN. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Gen Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Argus raised Gen Digital to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.29.

Gen Digital Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Gen Digital stock opened at $24.32 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.60. Gen Digital Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.78 and a 1 year high of $32.22. The company has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.47% and a net margin of 19.46%.The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Gen Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.680-0.700 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.850-2.950 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Gen Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gen Digital

In other news, Director John C. Chrystal purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $27.06 per share, with a total value of $81,180.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 31,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $850,198.14. This trade represents a 10.56% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 100,000 shares of Gen Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.78, for a total value of $2,478,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,832,724 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $94,974,900.72. The trade was a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 9.30% 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.

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