Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 7.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 225,446 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,438 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Gen Digital were worth $5,611,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Gen Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $225,169,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the second quarter worth $146,639,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the second quarter worth $108,421,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Gen Digital by 45.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 13,094,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,567,000 after buying an additional 4,115,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position 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 valued at $542,211,000 after buying an additional 3,640,451 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gen Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Gen Digital from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Gen Digital from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Gen Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gen Digital presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

Gen Digital Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of GEN stock opened at $31.00 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $27.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a PE ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Gen Digital Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.78 and a 1-year high of $31.29.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Gen Digital had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 20.73%.Gen Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Gen Digital has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.870-2.970 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.710-0.730 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.07%.

Insider Activity at Gen Digital

In related news, insider Travis Michael Witteveen sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $882,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 496,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,608,353.90. The trade was a 5.70% 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 Ondrej Vlcek sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,332,904 shares in the company, valued at $99,987,120. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 630,260 shares of company stock worth $17,967,726 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

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.