113,658 Shares in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Acquired by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 113,658 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $15,937,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.31% of Qualys as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 1,386.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,699 shares of the software maker's stock worth $49,876,000 after buying an additional 331,766 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker's stock worth $147,178,000 after buying an additional 123,530 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 208.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 101.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,214 shares of the software maker's stock worth $14,415,000 after purchasing an additional 56,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CDAM UK Ltd lifted its position in Qualys by 8.3% in the third quarter. CDAM UK Ltd now owns 502,913 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $64,604,000 after purchasing an additional 38,509 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $146.00 price objective (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $146.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,635 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.64, for a total transaction of $226,676.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 112,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,530,036.88. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,595 shares of company stock worth $3,691,922. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $127.92. 832,845 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 387,309. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $135.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.05. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $174.20. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 27.51 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. On average, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.