MML Investors Services LLC Increases Stock Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,864 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,701 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $2,680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Qualys by 294.7% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Qualys by 149.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 239 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Qualys in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Qualys during the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Qualys by 53.6% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 639 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS stock opened at $147.54 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 32.50 and a beta of 0.54. Qualys, Inc. has a one year low of $119.17 and a one year high of $206.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $139.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.52.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total transaction of $77,468.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,942 shares in the company, valued at $10,501,252.98. This trade represents a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,190 shares of company stock valued at $4,449,290 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on QLYS. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

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.