Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) Rating Lowered to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on GEN. Evercore ISI began coverage on Gen Digital in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Gen Digital from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Gen Digital from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Gen Digital Price Performance

Shares of GEN opened at $30.48 on Friday. Gen Digital has a fifty-two week low of $22.74 and a fifty-two week high of $31.72. The company has a market capitalization of $18.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.01. Gen Digital had a net margin of 16.34% and a return on equity of 59.38%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $999.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Gen Digital will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Gen Digital

In related news, Director Nora Denzel sold 31,646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total value of $910,138.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,860 shares in the company, valued at $1,002,573.60. This trade represents a 47.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 12.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 164,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,369,000 after buying an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its position in Gen Digital by 129.6% during the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 75,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 42,488 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Gen Digital during the first quarter worth about $423,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Gen Digital during the first quarter worth about $1,505,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Gen Digital by 221.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

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.