Petrus Trust Company LTA Buys New Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Petrus Trust Company LTA bought a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,696 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $603,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Qualys by 14.5% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 926,093 shares of the software maker's stock worth $118,966,000 after acquiring an additional 117,079 shares during the last quarter. CDAM UK Ltd raised its position in shares of Qualys by 8.3% during the third quarter. CDAM UK Ltd now owns 502,913 shares of the software maker's stock worth $64,604,000 after acquiring an additional 38,509 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Qualys by 15.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 474,100 shares of the software maker's stock worth $67,607,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Qualys by 0.8% during 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. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Qualys by 8.3% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 373,995 shares of the software maker's stock worth $48,043,000 after acquiring an additional 28,802 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded down $2.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $156.79. The company had a trading volume of 438,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 440,085. The company has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.53 and a beta of 0.54. Qualys, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.17 and a 1 year high of $206.35. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $136.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.32.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on QLYS. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $140.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total value of $77,468.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,942 shares in the company, valued at $10,501,252.98. This represents a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,618 shares in the company, valued at $6,885,508.40. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,858 shares of company stock worth $4,239,673 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.