Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Lowers Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board cut its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 53.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,136 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 14,896 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Qualys were worth $1,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $445,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 20,576 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,374,000 after buying an additional 5,508 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 2,459.9% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,135 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,151,000 after buying an additional 41,450 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Qualys by 40.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,525,000 after acquiring an additional 8,291 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Qualys by 13.5% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 108,304 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $18,048,000 after buying an additional 12,915 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on QLYS. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.80.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $164,654.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 55,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,885,508.40. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value 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 represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,919 shares of company stock worth $2,993,000 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS stock traded up $3.15 on Thursday, hitting $150.18. 292,611 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 445,001. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.03 and a beta of 0.47. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $130.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.04. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $119.17 and a one year high of $206.35.

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