Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Gen Digital Inc. by 3.7%, acquiring 2,513,464 shares and now owns approximately 11.31% of the company, valued at $1.85 billion.
• Institutional investors collectively hold 81.38% of Gen Digital's stock, with several hedge funds recently increasing their positions during the fourth quarter.
• Gen Digital reported a quarterly earnings of $0.64 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations and indicating a 30.3% revenue increase year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,690,768 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,513,464 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.31% of Gen Digital worth $1,849,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 176.4% in the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,839 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 47,764 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Gen Digital by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 8,796 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gen Digital by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 53,462 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,419,000 after acquiring an additional 6,287 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,208,034 shares of the company's stock worth $217,841,000 after purchasing an additional 119,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Gen Digital in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gen Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gen Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $35.33.

Gen Digital Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:GEN traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $32.15. The company had a trading volume of 5,403,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,156,529. The company has a market capitalization of $19.79 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.88. Gen Digital Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.74 and a 52 week high of $32.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.04. Gen Digital had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 57.99%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.05 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 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Gen Digital's payout ratio is currently 51.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Gen Digital news, Director Nora Denzel sold 31,646 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total value of $910,138.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,860 shares in the company, valued at $1,002,573.60. This represents a 47.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 9.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Gen Digital Profile

Gen Digital Inc engages in the provision of cyber safety solutions for consumers in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company offers security and performance products under Norton, Avast, Avira, AVG, and CCleaner brands that provide real-time protection and maintenance for PCs, Macs, and mobile devices against malware, viruses, adware, and other online threats.