Eagle Asset Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 26.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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. owned 0.10% of Qualys worth $4,707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in Qualys by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 926,093 shares of the software maker's stock worth $118,966,000 after purchasing an additional 117,079 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Qualys by 15.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 474,100 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $67,607,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Qualys by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 439,434 shares of the software maker's stock worth $62,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,357 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Qualys by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 372,338 shares of the software maker's stock worth $53,095,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 100.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 367,470 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $52,401,000 after purchasing an additional 184,403 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total value of $1,047,620.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at $33,741,295.98. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.31, for a total transaction of $585,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,919 shares of company stock worth $2,993,000. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QLYS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wedbush cut their target price on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded up $3.07 during trading on Monday, hitting $156.44. 512,496 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 444,676. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $206.35. The company has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52 and a beta of 0.47. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $131.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.70.

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