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

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,637 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 151.2% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 17,258 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after buying an additional 10,387 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in Qualys by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,213 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,510,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $487,000. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qualys Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $129.73 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $135.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $174.20.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total transaction of $123,180.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 62,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,700,119.70. The trade was a 1.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,321,173.97. The trade was a 3.01 % 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $146.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Qualys in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.14.

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.