Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,342 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 35,644 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.29% of Qualys worth $13,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 6,100 shares of the software maker's stock worth $784,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 44,938 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,773,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $339,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Qualys by 40.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,525,000 after purchasing an additional 8,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Qualys by 1.3% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 92,004 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of Qualys stock traded down $3.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $145.52. 836,673 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 630,295. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $206.35. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.05 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.49.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on QLYS. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded Qualys from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Qualys from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 179,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $164,654.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,885,508.40. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,919 shares of company stock worth $1,360,140 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.