Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,717 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 876 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.12% of Qualys worth $5,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Financial Enhancement Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 6,100 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $784,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Qualys by 2.2% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,896 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Qualys by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 8,272 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Qualys by 0.3% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 46,436 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,622,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 23,177 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,977,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QLYS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 634 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total transaction of $77,468.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,501,252.98. The trade was a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,885,508.40. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,190 shares of company stock worth $4,449,290. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ QLYS opened at $141.37 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $140.93 and a 200-day moving average of $135.61. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $206.35. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14 and a beta of 0.54.

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

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.