Aurora Investment Counsel Acquires Shares of 15,993 Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 15,993 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,243,000. Qualys makes up approximately 1.2% of Aurora Investment Counsel's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in Qualys by 14.5% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 15,851 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,036,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Qualys during the third quarter worth about $445,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Qualys by 21.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,091 shares of the software maker's stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 29,428 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Qualys in the 3rd quarter valued at about $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.24, for a total transaction of $121,615.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,986,296.48. This represents a 1.34 % 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 valued at $3,745,742 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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Qualys Trading Up 0.1 %

QLYS traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $130.61. 295,815 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,667. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.17 and a 12-month high of $174.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $136.38 and a 200 day moving average of $136.07. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. As a group, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on QLYS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $146.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Tuesday. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $146.14.

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.