Westpac Banking Corp Boosts Stake in Gen Digital Inc. $GEN

Westpac Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) by 5,410.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 157,865 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 155,000 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Gen Digital were worth $4,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GEN. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gen Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Gen Digital by 221.5% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Gen Digital by 19.2% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 2,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gen Digital during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Gen Digital by 136.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 3,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Gen Digital news, Director John C. Chrystal acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.14 per share, with a total value of $135,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 28,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $771,291.66. This trade represents a 21.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GEN. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Gen Digital from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Gen Digital from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Gen Digital from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Gen Digital in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.43.

Gen Digital Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GEN opened at $26.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63. The company has a market capitalization of $16.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.94. Gen Digital Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.74 and a 52-week high of $32.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.76.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Gen Digital had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 57.99%. The company’s revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Gen Digital has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.510-2.56 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 0.620-0.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gen Digital Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gen Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Gen Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.35%.

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.