Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) Trading 0.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $27.50.

Gen Digital Trading Up 0.5%

The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The company has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a PE ratio of 28.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.59.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.01. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 58.83% and a net margin of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Gen Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Gen Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gen Digital

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEN. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of Gen Digital by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 50,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,345,000 after buying an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Gen Digital during the 1st quarter worth $273,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Gen Digital by 2,954.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 322,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,550,000 after acquiring an additional 311,623 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Gen Digital by 61.9% in the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 13,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 5,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC acquired a new position in Gen Digital in the first quarter valued at $154,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Gen Digital Company 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.