Gen Digital Inc. $GEN Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its position in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 6.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,405,921 shares of the company’s stock after selling 96,687 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Gen Digital were worth $26,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Gen Digital by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,310,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,993,302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,313 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,558,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $867,565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,755 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,473,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406,869 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Gen Digital by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 19,941,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,640,451 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in Gen Digital by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,644,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,954,712 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Gen Digital

In related news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.78, for a total transaction of $2,478,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,832,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,974,900.72. This represents a 2.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John C. Chrystal acquired 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.06 per share, with a total value of $81,180.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 31,419 shares in the company, valued at $850,198.14. The trade was a 10.56% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 9.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gen Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ GEN opened at $25.58 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $15.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.22. Gen Digital Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.78 and a 1-year high of $32.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 55.47% and a net margin of 19.46%.The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Gen Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Barclays increased their target price on 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 note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.33.

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.