Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 954,583 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 88,347 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 2.61% of Qualys worth $133,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth about $91,000. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on QLYS. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $146.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $144.36.

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Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total transaction of $123,180.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 62,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,700,119.70. The trade was a 1.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.81, for a total transaction of $866,670.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,313 shares in the company, valued at $30,496,012.53. This trade represents a 2.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,480 shares of company stock worth $3,579,506 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Qualys Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Qualys stock traded down $0.96 on Wednesday, reaching $123.01. 30,161 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 398,318. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $174.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $129.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48 and a beta of 0.71.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Qualys Company 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.