Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Decreases Stock Position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board cut its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,136 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 14,896 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Qualys were worth $1,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Qualys by 294.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Qualys by 149.0% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 239 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Qualys by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 639 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on QLYS. UBS Group increased their target price on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.80.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total transaction of $1,047,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares in the company, valued at $33,741,295.98. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 86,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,695,599.04. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,919 shares of company stock valued at $2,993,000. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Qualys Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of QLYS stock opened at $147.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $129.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.95. Qualys, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.17 and a 12-month 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $153.87 million during 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%. Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal 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.