Congress Asset Management Co. Lowers Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Congress Asset Management Co. lowered its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 687,497 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 46,399 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 1.88% of Qualys worth $96,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of QLYS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 1,386.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,623 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $147,178,000 after acquiring an additional 123,530 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 58,252 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of 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 raised its stake in Qualys by 8.3% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Qualys Trading Down 1.2 %

Qualys stock traded down $1.74 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $145.96. 353,362 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,717. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $174.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39 and a beta of 0.56. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $141.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.31.

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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.37, for a total transaction of $209,616.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 113,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,885,415.24. This trade represents a 1.16 % 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, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $941,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,288 shares of company stock valued at $5,204,906 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on QLYS. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price 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. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank lowered 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. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $146.57.

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.