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

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

GEN has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays cut their price target on Gen Digital from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research raised Gen Digital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Gen Digital in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Gen Digital in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Gen Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.71.

Gen Digital Stock Up 2.0%

GEN opened at $20.97 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.37 and a 200-day moving average of $25.98. The company has a market capitalization of $12.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.11. Gen Digital has a fifty-two week low of $20.15 and a fifty-two week high of $32.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Gen Digital had a net margin of 12.76% and a return on equity of 56.76%. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Gen Digital’s revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Gen Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.640-0.660 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.540-2.560 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Gen Digital will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gen Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gen Digital by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,310,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,993,302,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,313 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Gen Digital by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,558,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,565,000 after buying an additional 1,015,755 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Gen Digital by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,961,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,867,000 after buying an additional 487,393 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Gen Digital by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 19,941,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,640,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Gen Digital by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,644,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,954,712 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.38% 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.