Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Raises Stock Position in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 45.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,094,386 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,115,676 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Gen Digital were worth $246,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEN. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gen Digital during the 1st quarter worth $214,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Gen Digital by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,559,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,195,000 after buying an additional 569,581 shares during the period. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Gen Digital by 15.7% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 1,381 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 49,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $940,000 after acquiring an additional 6,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gen Digital by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 83,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 9,893 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ondrej Vlcek sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the director owned 3,832,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,974,900.72. The trade was a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John C. Chrystal bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $27.06 per share, for a total transaction of $81,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 31,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $850,198.14. This trade represents a 10.56% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 9.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GEN. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Gen Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Gen Digital in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.33.

Gen Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GEN opened at $25.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 1.21. Gen Digital Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.78 and a twelve month high of $32.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Gen Digital had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 55.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Gen Digital’s payout ratio is presently 31.65%.

About Gen Digital

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.