Companies

Short Interest in Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN) Sees a Significant Rise

Published March 8, 2025

Gen Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:GEN - Get Free Report) experienced a notable rise in short interest during February. By February 15th, the short interest had reached 18,710,000 shares, representing a substantial increase of 25.0% compared to the January 31st figure of 14,970,000 shares. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. With an average daily trading volume of 3,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio stands at 5.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Updates

In a separate development, UBS Group recently upgraded Gen Digital to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report published on December 4th.

Gen Digital's Stock Performance

As of midday trading on Thursday, shares of Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) were down by 0.8%, decreasing by $0.22 to $27.33. During this period, 3,098,493 shares were traded, which is lower than the average trading volume of 3,625,812 shares. Over the past year, the company’s stock has seen a low of $19.58 and a high of $31.72. Gen Digital has a market capitalization of approximately $16.84 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79. The P/E/G ratio is recorded at 1.19, while the beta is 0.83. The company’s debt-to-equity ratio is 3.29, and both its current and quick ratios are 0.35. Additionally, the stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.44 and a 200-day average of $27.81.

Earnings Report Summary

Gen Digital last released its earnings results on January 30th, reporting earnings of $0.52 per share (EPS) for the quarter. This figure fell short of analysts' expectations, which had predicted $0.55 by a margin of $0.03. The company maintained a net margin of 16.32% and achieved a return on equity of 58.83%. Looking forward, analysts estimate that Gen Digital will achieve an EPS of 2.05 for the current year.

Institutional Share Trading

Recently, several hedge funds made adjustments to their positions in Gen Digital. For instance, Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in the company by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, now owning 25,212 shares worth $690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares. QSM Asset Management Ltd also took a new stake in Gen Digital during the fourth quarter, valued at roughly $5,373,000. Additionally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired about $14,367,000 in new shares. Institutional investors and hedge funds currently hold approximately 81.38% of the stock.

About Gen Digital

Gen Digital Inc. specializes in providing cyber safety solutions, catering to consumers across the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company markets security and performance products under well-known brands such as Norton, Avast, Avira, AVG, and CCleaner, offering real-time protection for PCs, Macs, and mobile devices against various online threats.