Gen Digital Inc. $GEN Shares Acquired by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs increased its stake in Gen Digital by 42.1% in the fourth quarter, buying nearly 993,000 additional shares and lifting its holding to about 3.35 million shares.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed, but the overall view remains cautious: Gen Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a target price of $31.29.
• The company beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.67 EPS on $1.28 billion in revenue, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.125 per share to be paid on June 10.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN - Free Report) by 42.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,351,550 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 992,898 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.54% of Gen Digital worth $91,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 38,275.3% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 194,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,078,000 after purchasing an additional 194,056 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,213,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,050,150,000 after purchasing an additional 964,046 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,238,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,155,639 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,128,000 after buying an additional 102,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LBP AM SA grew its position in shares of Gen Digital by 63.7% during the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 738,272 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,074,000 after buying an additional 287,369 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GEN. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Gen Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Gen Digital from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Argus raised shares of Gen Digital to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gen Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Gen Digital from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Gen Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John C. Chrystal bought 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 approximately $850,198.14. This trade represents a 10.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 9.30% of the company's stock.

Gen Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ GEN opened at $24.97 on Wednesday. Gen Digital Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.78 and a 52 week high of $32.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock has a market cap of $15.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $21.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.62.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Gen Digital had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 55.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Gen Digital'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. Analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Gen Digital's dividend payout ratio is 31.65%.

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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