Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 251.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,182 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,426 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in Qualys by 14.5% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 926,093 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $118,966,000 after purchasing an additional 117,079 shares in the last quarter. CDAM UK Ltd grew its stake in Qualys by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. CDAM UK Ltd now owns 502,913 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,604,000 after acquiring an additional 38,509 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Qualys by 15.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 474,100 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,607,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Qualys by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 439,434 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $62,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,357 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 8.3% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 373,995 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $48,043,000 after purchasing an additional 28,802 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QLYS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.80.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $154.68 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07 and a beta of 0.47. Qualys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a net margin of 28.72% and a return on equity of 40.24%. The business had revenue of $153.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.54, for a total value of $76,100.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,695,599.04. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,919 shares of company stock valued at $2,993,000 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.