Russell Investments Group Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,142 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 11,486 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Qualys worth $3,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Qualys by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 932 shares of the software maker's stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $146.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $142.21.

Qualys Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of QLYS traded down $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $120.62. 408,065 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 398,408. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94 and a beta of 0.71. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $174.20. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $128.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.88.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total transaction of $123,180.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 62,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,700,119.70. The trade was a 1.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 246,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,496,012.53. The trade was a 2.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,480 shares of company stock worth $3,579,506 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.