Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) Stock Price Up 0.5% - What's Next?

Shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) were up 0.5% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $29.80 and last traded at $29.06. Approximately 4,545,468 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 3,920,902 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GEN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Gen Digital from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gen Digital currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.50.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $26.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.59. The company has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.49, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $999.48 million. Gen Digital had a net margin of 16.32% and a return on equity of 58.83%. Gen Digital's revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Gen Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.08%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gen Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,690,768 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,849,593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,513,464 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gen Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $299,562,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Gen Digital by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,227,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,896,000 after purchasing an additional 491,977 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Gen Digital by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,208,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $217,841,000 after purchasing an additional 119,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Gen Digital by 2.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,184,489 shares of the company's stock valued at $137,596,000 after purchasing an additional 117,013 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

About Gen Digital

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.

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