Sumedh S. Thakar Sells 7,000 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,144 shares in the company, valued at $34,994,292.48. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Qualys Trading Up 2.7 %

Qualys stock traded up $3.94 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $147.70. 437,539 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 391,037. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $119.17 and a one year high of $174.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $141.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.31. The company has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 39.64%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on QLYS. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.57.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 88.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Qualys by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.