Insider Selling: Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Director Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total value of $585,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,853,162.46. This trade represents a 24.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS stock traded down $1.66 during trading on Monday, reaching $143.86. 419,009 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 446,761. The company has a 50-day moving average of $128.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.28. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78 and a beta of 0.47. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. The business had revenue of $153.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of QLYS. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the third quarter worth $445,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Qualys by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 20,576 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,374,000 after buying an additional 5,508 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 2,459.9% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,135 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,151,000 after buying an additional 41,450 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Qualys by 40.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,525,000 after acquiring an additional 8,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 13.5% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 108,304 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $18,048,000 after acquiring an additional 12,915 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QLYS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.80.

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.