Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 20,349 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Bridgewater Associates LP reduced its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 52.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,485 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 20,349 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP owned approximately 0.05% of Qualys worth $2,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chiron Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,411,000. Defined Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $401,000. Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,129 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 181,249 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,415,000 after purchasing an additional 69,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 16,902 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,370,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Stock Performance

Qualys stock traded up $3.80 on Thursday, reaching $125.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 85,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 394,897. Qualys, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.61 and a twelve month high of $173.49. The company has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.92 and a beta of 0.71. The business's fifty day moving average price is $127.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.73.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 525 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.48, for a total transaction of $73,227.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,118,226.04. The trade was a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 4,487 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $628,180.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 112,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,785,980. The trade was a 3.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,138 shares of company stock valued at $3,519,970. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QLYS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $146.00 price target (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $142.21.

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.