Eagle Asset Management Inc. Reduces Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 26.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,642 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 13,193 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Qualys were worth $4,707,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Qualys in the third quarter valued at $445,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 208.5% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $11,072,000 after purchasing an additional 58,252 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Qualys by 36.6% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 20,576 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,374,000 after purchasing an additional 5,508 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 41,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Qualys by 40.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,525,000 after purchasing an additional 8,291 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qualys Price Performance

Qualys stock opened at $153.37 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.81. Qualys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.17 and a 1-year high of $206.35. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78 and a beta of 0.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a net margin of 28.72% and a return on equity of 40.24%. 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 company posted $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Qualys from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $164,654.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,885,508.40. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,919 shares of company stock valued at $2,993,000. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Qualys 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.