Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc trimmed its position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 38.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,781 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 4,304 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Qualys were worth $951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 208.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,072,000 after purchasing an additional 58,252 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 428.9% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after buying an additional 14,804 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Qualys by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 456,540 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,016,000 after buying an additional 3,848 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Qualys by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 7,833 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,095,000 after buying an additional 933 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Qualys by 6.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,320 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $8,134,000 after acquiring an additional 4,040 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on QLYS. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $146.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,635 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.64, for a total value of $226,676.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 112,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,530,036.88. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $941,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at $30,321,173.97. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,926 shares of company stock worth $3,745,742 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Qualys Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of QLYS opened at $126.39 on Friday. Qualys, Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.17 and a 52 week high of $174.20. The firm has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $136.52 and a 200-day moving average of $135.96.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qualys Company Profile

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.