Freestone Grove Partners LP Makes New $3.55 Million Investment in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Key Points

• Freestone Grove Partners initiated a $3.55 million position in Gen Digital, purchasing 142,733 shares during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 81.38% of the company.
• Analysts remain generally cautious, with an overall “Hold” consensus and an average price target of $31.67, despite several firms raising their targets and Argus upgrading the stock to “Strong Buy.”
• Gen Digital exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.71 in adjusted EPS and $1.34 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 6.3% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.125 per share, equivalent to a 1.6% annualized yield.

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 142,733 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,553,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Gen Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Gen Digital by 452.2% during the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,132 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in Gen Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Gen Digital in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Gen Digital by 65.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Argus upgraded Gen Digital to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Gen Digital from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.67.

Insider Activity at Gen Digital

In other news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,332,904 shares of the company's stock, valued at $99,987,120. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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, for a total transaction of $81,180.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 31,419 shares in the company, valued at $850,198.14. This represents a 10.56% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 630,260 shares of company stock valued at $17,967,726. 9.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Gen Digital Price Performance

GEN stock opened at $31.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.57 billion, a PE ratio of 18.03 and a beta of 1.21. The company's 50-day moving average is $27.06 and its 200-day moving average is $23.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Gen Digital Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.78 and a 1 year high of $31.29.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 20.73%.The business had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The firm's 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. Equities research analysts expect that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Gen Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.07%.

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.

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