Virtu Financial LLC Invests $510,000 in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,637 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Qualys by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 46,726 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,552,000 after purchasing an additional 15,866 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Qualys by 151.2% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 17,258 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 10,387 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Qualys by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,213 shares of the software maker's stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,510,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at $487,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $146.00 price objective (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $170.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Qualys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $146.14.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $941,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total value of $123,180.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 62,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,700,119.70. This represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,595 shares of company stock valued at $3,691,922 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Qualys Price Performance

Qualys stock traded down $2.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.18. 171,168 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 395,977. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $135.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.39. Qualys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.17 and a 52-week high of $174.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.35 and a beta of 0.56.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16). Qualys had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 28.59%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

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.